A judge has sentenced a Jan 6. Capitol rioter who said he is running for one of New Hampshire’s congressional House seats to 90 days in jail for his involvement in the insurrection.
Jason Riddle, a Navy veteran, was also sentenced to three years of probation and was fined $750 for stealing a book and causing damage to the Capitol during the riot, CNN reported.
Riddle was among the second wave of rioters at the Capitol who then entered the Senate parliamentarian’s office and drank a bottle of wine he found, according to his plea agreement.
Prosecutors said Riddle stole a book and a football from the office. He threw the football into the crowd when he exited the Capitol and sold the book for $40, according to CNN.
“He was witnessing violence in front of him while he was chugging wine and celebrating,” U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said during Riddle’s sentencing hearing on Monday. “It is hard to fathom, given Mr. Riddle’s foreign military service and time in the Navy reserves” that he would “celebrate this attack.”
In June, Riddle told NBC affiliate WBTS that he plans to run for Congress.
“In the long run, if you’re running for office, any attention is good attention, so I think it will help me,” Riddle told WBTS.
Riddle pleaded guilty to theft of government property and illegally protesting in the building. He was arrested by authorities a month after the insurrection
Riddle said during the hearing that he disagreed with the notion that he was a “domestic terrorist,” CNN reported.
“That’s what’s in my head when I signed up to run for Congress,” Riddle told Friedrich. “These are citizens of the United States, and their rights are under attack.”