Social media figure gets home detention in Capitol riot case
A pro-Trump social media influencer who posted video of himself at the U.S. Capitol during last year's riot was sentenced on Monday to three months of home detention after a federal prosecutor accused him of abusing his online platform to stir up the mob.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said she finds it “deeply disturbing” that Brandon Straka, 45, used his social media influence to encourage and defend the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“Election challenges are fought in the courts, not by storming the Capitol,” Friedrich said.
The judge also sentenced Straka to three years of probation and ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine.
Also on Monday, a federal judge in Texas heard arguments on whether to jail the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group while he awaits trial on seditious conspiracy charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson said she expects to issue a written ruling in the next day or two on whether to detain Stewart Rhodes.
Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article257672688.html
