Pro-Trump live-streamer arrested, charged with using giant 'Trump 2020' sign against officers
A live-streamer who was a frequent presence at the "Freedom Corner" protests in support of Jan. 6 defendants outside a jail in the nation's capital has been arrested on Capitol attack charges, nearly two years after he was publicly identified by online "sedition hunters" who have aided in hundreds of Jan. 6 arrests.
WASHINGTON — A live-streamer who was a frequent presence at the "Freedom Corner" protests in support of Jan. 6 defendants has been arrested on Capitol attack charges, nearly two years after he was publicly identified by online "sedition hunters" who have aided in hundreds of Jan. 6 arrests.
David Valentine, known to online sleuths as #YellowSizzler, was arrested in Wisconsin, according to court records. Valentine has often attended “Freedom Corner,” the nightly demonstration outside a jail in the nation’s capital in support of Jan. 6 rioters that former President Donald Trump has called into in the past. Online "sedition hunters" identified Valentine in 2022, according to a website affiliated with the sleuths.
Authorities say Valentine was one of the rioters who pushed a giant metal framed “Trump 2020” sign at a line of police officers, and that he also cut some wires with a folding knife close to the lower west tunnel, where some of the worst violence of the day took place. He faces a felony civil disorder charge along with misdemeanor offenses.
Members of the mob, including the man authorities identified as Valentine, push a "Trump" sign into police officers. U.S. District Court for the District of ColumbiaOther "Freedom Corner" participants who have subsequently been charged for their activities on Jan. 6 include Tommy Tatum and Taylor Taranto, both of whom were identified by NBC News as Jan. 6 participants before they were arrested and charged. Taranto, who was arrested outside Obama’s Washington, D.C. home, is one of just a handful of Jan. 6 rioters being held in pretrial detention.
More than 1,400 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack and prosecutors have secured convictions against more than 1,000 defendants. More than 560 defendants have been sentenced to periods of incarceration ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison.
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