'Openly glorified insurrection': Judge smacks down J6 rioter’s request to attend inauguration

03 January

A federal judge has officially ruled that a participant in the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol who brought a knife and a tactical vest to the riot will not be allowed to attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

NBC News reported Friday that U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth rejected a request from Russell Taylor — who attempted to recruit "fighters" to the January 6 insurrection — to attend the inauguration on January 20. The rejection comes despite Taylor being invited to the Capitol for Trump's swearing-in ceremony by former Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) and three other unnamed members of the Utah congressional delegation.

"To attend the Presidential Inauguration, which celebrates and honors the peaceful transfer of power, is an immense privilege," Lamberth wrote in his ruling. "It would not be appropriate for the Court to grant permission to attend such a hallowed event to someone who carried weapons and threatened police officers in an attempt to thwart the last Inauguration, and who openly glorified '[i]nsurrection' against the United States."

Taylor pleaded guilty in 2023 to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and provided testimony against members of the Three Percenters militia group in exchange for a reduced sentence. Instead of prison, NBC reports that Taylor is serving periods of probation and home confinement in California, where he lives.

The terms of Taylor's probation ban him from Washington D.C. without an official invitation. Stewart insisted in his initial invitation that Taylor was no longer a threat to the peaceful transfer of power and urged the Court to allow him to visit the U.S. Capitol.

“He is [a] caring father and reveres his family, his faith, and his love of our Country as his highest priority in life,” Stewart wrote. “I am honored to extend this invitation for him to attend the Inauguration as my guest.”

Lamberth acknowledged in his recent filing that while Taylor had taken "responsibility for his actions" and "furnished extensive assistance to the Government" in its prosecutions of other insurrectionists, his "cooperation and good conduct while on probation do not diminish the seriousness of his acts on January 6, 2021, to which he has voluntary admitted, nor do they entitle him to the permission he now seeks."

Click here to read NBC's report in full.

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