A criminally convicted member of the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was taken right to jail on Monday.
Vitali GossJankowski was facing scrutiny for threatening text messages he evidently sent to a law enforcement officer associated with his case, and the feds sought his detention, pending sentencing. The judge eventually went with what the prosecutors wanted — and GossJankowski lashed out in court, sparking a massive physical struggle as officers got him under control.
Details were shared by CBS journalist Scott MacFarlane, who posted on X (Twitter): “Marshals order courtroom cleared as GossJankowski is physically resisting agents who are trying to cuff him. He makes gutteral screams and fights off agents.” The next post from the same journalist further described the scene: “A computer plunges off defense table in the scrum. Other agents from elsewhere in courthouse run into Judge Friedman’s courtroom to corral GossJankowski, who is huge and strong.” Notably, this defendant was originally charged with and convicted of physically attacking law enforcement during the original Capitol attacks.
GossJankowski himself described a device he evidently attempted to use against an officer that day as a taser. He’d grabbed that individual by their helmet as they were targeted more generally by the crowd. “Later, when two law enforcement officers were pulled into the crowd, GossJankowski pushed his way through the crowd just outside the tunnel and grabbed an officer with the United States Capitol Police by his helmet. GossJankowski pulled the officer close and reached toward the officer with an unrecovered device GossJankowski would later call a taser,” an earlier press release from the federal Justice Department says.
GossJankowski participated in violence in and around the tunnel at the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, where riot participants perpetrated some of the most damaging attacks that day. The text messages to an officer that led to Monday’s hearing taking place at all included racism targeting multiple groups and references to sexual violence. And these are the people who Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump are so interested in rushing to defend?
