Capitol riot suspect pictured at Pelosi’s desk screams ‘it’s not fair’ in courtroom tantrum

Richard Barnett, infamously photographed during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot with his feet propped on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, shouted that it was “not fair” that he remained in jail, in an outburst before a federal judge on Thursday.

In a virtual hearing, Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Ark., complained of his pretrial detention after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper set the next court date for May.

“The government keeps dragging this out and letting everybody else out,” Barnett argued before the judge abruptly called for a recess for Barnett to speak with his attorneys, according to a transcript of the hearing.

“This has been a bunch of crap,” Barnett yelled before the recess, according to a Daily Beast reporter on the call.

After the break, the hearing continued uninterrupted.

Barnett was arrested less than a week after the insurrection and entered a plea of not guilty.

Among the approximately 300 people charged with federal charges, Barnett and others have objected to the fallout after their arrests. Texas flower shop owner Jenny Louise Cudd, who complained to Vanity Fair she was “canceled,” asked the court to allow her to go on vacation to Mexico.

After “QAnon shaman” Jacob Chansley, pictured in a fur headdress and horns on Jan. 6, demanded improved conditions in jail as he awaits trial, claiming nonorganic food was against his religion, a federal judge ordered Chansley be moved to a jail in Virginia where he would be served organic food, according to court records.

Chansley, like others facing criminal charges stemming from the riot, publicly requested but did not receive a pardon from former president Donald Trump.

Barnett has remained behind bars pending his trial since Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled Barnett’s detention was warranted given the prosecution’s arguments that Barnett is a flight risk. Barnett told federal agents on Jan. 8 that after the insurrection he drove back to Arkansas, turned his phone’s location services off, used only cash and kept his face covered, according to court records.

“He also commented that the agents may not find much at his house because he is a smart man,” prosecutors wrote in a memo in favor of pretrial detention. Barnett told the agents he had recently removed his guns from his house before it was searched.

In photos of Barnett sitting in an office chair in Pelosi’s office, a stun gun appeared to be clipped to his waist. Records identified by prosecutors indicate Barnett bought a 950,000-volt stun gun walking stick at a Bass Pro Shop in Arkansas five days before he traveled to Washington.

Surveillance video, photos and media interviews captured Barnett in Pelosi’s office for six minutes and his unabashed boasts later that he broke in and took mail from the office, according to authorities. In an interview, he showed off an envelope with Pelosi’s signature.

Barnett insisted he didn’t steal the mail, telling a reporter that he left a quarter and note with an expletive and his nickname “Bigo” on the desk.

“I did not steal it,” he said, according to a video the FBI obtained. “I bled on it because they were macing me and I couldn’t [expletive] see so I figured I am in her office. I got blood on her office.”