Jan. 6 Defendant Who Called for ‘Nuclear Option’ After Electoral Vote Count Gets 7 Years in Prison

Demonstrators are seen at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. John Minchillo/AP Photo

A Washington state man was sentenced to over seven years in prison on Wednesday after a judge said he played a leadership role in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach and called for a “nuclear option” when then-Vice President Mike Pence failed to pause the electoral vote count.

“In any angry mob, there are leaders and there are followers. Mr. Johnatakis was a leader. He knew what he was doing that day,” U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said on April 3 in a District of Columbia courtroom, before sentencing Taylor James Johnatakis to seven years and three months behind bars.

Mr. Johnatakis, of Kingston, Washington, was convicted in November 2023 of four misdemeanors and three felonies by a federal jury in the nation’s capital. The charges included civil disorder and assaulting police.

Evidence presented at trial indicated that Mr. Johnatakis, who came to the U.S. Capitol with a megaphone strapped to his back, led a group of people up a staircase to the building and encouraged them to break through a line of barricades manned by police officers.

‘Down to the Nuclear Option’

Prosecutors said Mr. Johnatakis was one of the first to lead a charge against a police preventing access to the Capitol, with his actions allegedly prompted by word that Mr. Pence had refused to stop the counting of Electoral College votes to allow President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud to be investigated.

“While doing so, he yelled into his megaphone, at one point encouraging the crowd by saying: ‘Michael Pence has become a traitor to this nation. He’s been one. We just didn’t want to recognize it or admit it. It’s over. Michael Pence has voted against the president. We are down to the nuclear option,’” the government’s sentencing memorandum indicates.

Video shared on social media shows Mr. Johnatakis walking toward the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after President Trump’s speech at a “Stop The Steal” rally. In the video, he said he was “very concerned” about what Mr. Pence would do, referring to President Trump’s request of the vice president to pause the Electoral College vote count.

“We‘ll see,” he said. “Anyways, we’re walking over to the Capitol right now and, I don’t know, maybe we’ll break down the doors.”

Mr. Johnatakis was accused of not just coordinating a violent assault on a line of police officers defending the Capitol, but he allegedly participated in it himself.

“He used a metal barricade to attack officers head on and grabbed one officer to prevent him from defending himself against other attacking rioters—contributing to that officer’s physical injury,” the sentencing memorandum reads.

A jury convicted Mr. Johnatakis of obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers—all felony offenses. He was also convicted of four misdemeanor charges, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds.

Prosecutors wanted a nine-year sentence for Mr. Johnatakis, along with three years’ supervised release, $2,000 in restitution, and an unspecified monetary fine.

‘Treated Terribly’

More than 1,350 people have been charged with various crimes in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, ranging from misdemeanor offenses such as trespassing to felonies such as seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers.

Of these, roughly 800 have been sentenced, with nearly two-thirds receiving some time in prison.

Taylor James Johnatakis is seen in an image from police body-worn camera footage at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Department of Justice via AP

The longest prison sentence—22 years—was handed down to Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors alleged was a plot to stop the transfer of power from President Trump to President-elect Joe Biden during the certification of electoral votes in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

Dozens of Jan. 6 detainees are still languishing in jail awaiting trial over three years after the Capitol incident.

President Trump has made alleged mistreatment of Jan. 6 defendants a cornerstone of his reelection campaign, vowing to use executive power to issue pardons and free Jan. 6 “hostages” soon after taking office, if elected.

“They’ve been treated terribly and very unfairly,” President Trump said at a March 16 rally in Dayton, Ohio. “And we’re going to be working on that soon, on the first day we get into office,” he continued, while calling the Jan. 6 detainees “unbelievable patriots.”

President Biden has been sharply critical of President Trump’s statements about the Jan. 6 defendants, while Attorney General Merrick Garland has promised to press ahead with more Jan. 6 prosecutions—and to cast the Justice Department’s dragnet even more widely to include people who weren’t even present at the Capitol that day.

“As I said before, the Justice Department will hold all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the law—whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy,” Mr. Garland said in a speech on Jan. 5.

“We are following the facts and the law where they lead.”