National Security

Woman who threatened to shoot Pelosi on Jan. 6 sentenced to 60 days

Rioters loyal to President Trump gather at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

A rioter who threatened to shoot Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “in the friggin’ brain” during the 2021 insurrection was sentenced to 60 days behind bars on Thursday.

The Department of Justice said that Dawn Bancroft has been sentenced to 60 days incarceration, and will be on probation for three years.

Bancroft will also have to complete 100 hours community service and pay $500 in restitution fees.

She previously pleaded guilty in September 2021 to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

In the arrest warrant, the DOJ noted that Bancroft was arrested after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received a tip with a “selfie” video which showed Bancroft and her friend Diana Santos-Smith attempting to exit the U.S. Capitol building.


The video showed Bancroft saying, “We broke into the Capitol. … We got inside, we did our part.” She then continued, “We were looking for Nancy [Pelosi] to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we didn’t find her.”

According to an FBI affidavit, Bancroft estimated that she stayed inside the Capitol Building for approximately 20-30 seconds before deciding to exit.

On the day of the riots, a group of former President Trump’s supporters broke into the building and broke windows, wandered the hallways and vandalized offices in the building. One man was photographed in a chair in Pelosi’s office, and another man was seen carrying the Speaker’s lectern in the building. 

As of July, the DOJ said it has arrested 855 people so far in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, with those arrested coming from nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The department added that in the 18 months since the insurrection, approximately 263 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, including approximately 90 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.