Jan. 6 rioter who sought to 'incite violence' by Trump supporters set to be sentenced
John Sullivan, a Jan. 6 defendant who filmed Ashli Babbitt's shooting and who, federal prosecutors say, sought to "incite violence" at the Capitol, will be sentenced.
WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 defendant who, federal prosecutors say, sought to "incite violence," "instigate s---" and "foment anarchy" during the attack on the U.S. Capitol will be sentenced Friday afternoon, with the government arguing for a lengthy sentence of more than seven years in federal prison.
John Sullivan was convicted in November on numerous charges, including felony obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder. During closing arguments, a federal prosecutor told jurors that Sullivan went to the Capitol with the "goal of inciting the crowd," and prosecutors presented evidence of him bragging about being "on the front line" during the attack.
"I brought my megaphone to instigate s---," Sullivan said in footage played for jurors, in which Sullivan bragged that he'd sought to "make those Trump supporters f--- s--- up."
Sullivan, also known as "Jayden X," had been a cause célèbre for conservatives seeking to shift attention away from what drove the actions of the overwhelmingly pro-Donald Trump mob that stormed the Capitol and brutally attacked officers on Jan. 6, 2021. Sullivan is a political outlier among Jan. 6 defendants, many of whom still believe in the lies about the 2020 election that drove the attack. Sullivan is not a Trump supporter; prosecutors described him as an “antiestablishment” activist who wanted to “burn it all down.” He held himself out as a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, but BLM activists had distanced themselves from Sullivan in 2020. His brother James Sullivan is a right-wing activist with ties to the Proud Boys.
John Sullivan outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.John Sullivan is set to be sentenced Friday afternoon by Judge Royce C. Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee who has spoken out about the seriousness of the Jan. 6 attack and ordered Sullivan locked up following his conviction last year. A sentence of seven years in federal prison would be among the longest sentences handed down in connection with the Capitol attack.
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