63 months’ jail ties record for Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — A man who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers outside the US Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to 63 months behind bars, tying the record for the longest prison term for anyone convicted over the riot on Jan 6, 2021.

Mark Ponder, 56, also was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution and faces three years of supervised release following his federal prison term of five years and three months, the US Department of Justice said in announcing the sentencing.

Ponder, from the District of Columbia, which includes Washington, assaulted three officers in a series of confrontations on the Capitol grounds after a mob of supporters of then-president Donald Trump overwhelmed police lines on the West Plaza of the building on the afternoon of Jan 6, according to court documents in the case.

Arrested on March 17, 2021, Ponder pleaded guilty in April this year to charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon.

According to the department’s statement, he swung a pole at a US Capitol Police officer, striking the officer’s riot shield and breaking the pole in two, before arming himself with a thicker pole that he wielded against other officers, striking one of them in the shoulder.

The sentence levied against Ponder matches the prison term imposed in December against a Florida man, Robert Palmer, convicted for throwing a wooden plank and a fire extinguisher at police during the Jan 6 riot.

Also on Tuesday, Trump returned to Washington for the first time since leaving the White House 18 months ago, delivering a fiery speech sprinkled with strong hints he may run for president again in 2024.

The 76-year-old Trump stopped short of declaring his candidacy, but laid out what he believed should be the priorities for the “next Republican president”.

Several hours before Trump took the stage at the America First Policy Institute, Mike Pence, who served as Trump’s vice-president, addressed a different conservative audience in Washington. Pence is also considering a White House run in 2024.

Trump said the US’ survival was at stake. In a speech billed as focused on public safety, he painted a dark picture of a nation in decline and one in imminent danger from rising crime.

“We are a nation in decline,” he said. “We are a failing nation.”

US President Joe Biden joined in, on Twitter, where he dismissed Trump’s claim to have been a lawand-order president.