A Maryland man linked to the far-right extremist group Proud Boys was sentenced Monday to more than four years in prison for breaking into the U.S. Capitol, where he met Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, as his armed security detail led the Democrat New York to safety. . Joshua Pruitt, 40, was one of several Capitol Hill rioters who confronted a member of Congress during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters, according to federal prosecutors. “One look at Pruitt and Sen. Schumer’s security chief immediately saw the threat and shoved the 70-year-old senator down the aisle, forcing him to change his evacuation route on a dime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Loeb wrote. court before Monday’s trial. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Pruitt to four years and seven months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, according to Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Prosecutors had recommended a five-year prison sentence for Pruitt, a Silver Spring, Maryland resident who has worked as a bartender and personal trainer. He was described as an aspiring member of the Proud Boys whose intimidating figure made him an “ideal recruit” for the group on January 6. Schumer’s security chief told the FBI that their meeting with Pruitt was a painful, unforgettable moment. Pruitt was moving forward and just seconds from reaching Schumer when the security detail turned and ran the senator away from an elevator and up a ramp, members of the detail said. “At the end of the ramp, the officers closed and locked the doors. The security detail and (Sumer) took a secondary evacuation route. As soon as the doors closed, Pruitt turned and retraced his steps,” Loeb wrote. Pruitt and other candidates and recruits of the local Proud Boys chapter often used encrypted communications to discuss the invasion of Capitol Hill, the civil war and clashes with police, according to prosecutors. They said Pruitt wanted to block Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6. “He personally forced a 70-year-old senator to run and find another path to security. Among all the rioters who stormed the Capitol, it is a notorious distinction,” Loeb wrote. Defense attorney Robert Jenkins Jr. said Pruitt saw the security detail but did not recognize Schumer, now the Senate majority leader, at the time of the meeting. “It’s not as if Mr. Pruitt ran to the detail or took any threatening stance toward them. He noticed it was there. They went down a corridor. Mr. Pruitt went in a different direction,” Jenkins said after the sentencing hearing. Jenkins had asked for a three-year prison sentence for Pruitt. The defense attorney said he believes the 55-month sentence is disproportionately higher than other Capitol riot cases, given that Pruitt was not armed and did not attack any police officers. More than 240 riot defendants have been convicted, mostly of misdemeanors. Only four of them have been sentenced to longer prison terms than Pruitt, and all four of them were convicted of assaulting or obstructing law enforcement officers. “He thought the court would be a lot more lenient with him,” Jenkins added. Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes founded the Proud Boys in 2016. Before the riot on Capitol Hill, the group was best known for brawling in the streets with anti-fascist activists at rallies and demonstrations. Dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol riots. Some have been charged with conspiracy to riot for what authorities say was a plot to violently oppose the legal transfer of presidential power. Prosecutors called Pruitt “a symbol of the angry mob on Capitol Hill that day.” Many of the police officers guarding the Capitol on Jan. 6 remembered him as the instigator, according to prosecutors. “Wearing a tactical glove with knuckle pads and a cropped T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of the ‘Punisher’ — an anti-hero known for delivering violent vigilante justice — Pruitt made a calculated choice to use his muscular appearance to communicate to police that they faced a dangerous individual,” Loeb wrote. Pruitt was on probation and wearing an ankle monitor the day of the riot. He was initially arrested on the evening of January 6 for violating a curfew imposed by the mayor of Washington, DC. He has been jailed since a judge ordered his parole in January 2022. Pruitt pleaded guilty in June to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding, the joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, the Republican establishment. Our Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
