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William Alexander Pope (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
Prosecutors are fighting to keep an alleged Jan. 6 rioter away from Donald Trump‘s inauguration.
In their response to William Pope’s motion to modify the conditions of his release so he can travel to the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, prosecutors said he presents a danger to the Washington, D.C., community, including “the very law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and continue to serve the citizens of the District.”
Pope and his brother went to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal Rally” and to protest Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote count, prosecutors said.
Carrying a flagpole bearing an American flag, the Popes allegedly arrived at the Mall at about 7 that morning. They listened to Trump’s speech, then walked to the Capitol, prosecutors said.
Pope narrated in a Facebook livestream that “[w]e got a lot of people who are not happy that the election is potentially being stolen. And, ah, they are here to stand up for our country,” court documents said.
Pope allegedly entered the Capitol through the Senate Carriage Doors at 2:18 p.m. He used his body to push his way into the building, maneuvering past an officer trying to block the entryway. Pope’s brother went in immediately behind him, according to court documents.
At one point, a scuffle broke out between police and rioters. Pope allegedly stood with the flagpole he was carrying wedged into a door jamb, preventing officers from closing the door. He and his bother then allegedly walked with other rioters further into the building. They allegedly walked through the suite of offices belonging to then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the Crypt, and Statuary Hall, then exited the building at 2:37 p.m.
After his arrest on Feb. 12, 2021, the government agreed that Pope may remain on release pending trial, without a curfew, home detention, or monitoring, prosecutors said. One condition was that he be prohibited from traveling to Washington, D.C., except for his court proceedings, they added.
“Together with these relatively limited conditions, a travel restriction to prevent William Pope from returning to the scene of the crime creates the least restrictive combination of conditions required to mitigate the danger that he poses to the community and to law enforcement officers,” prosecutors said. “The nature and circumstances of the offenses in William Pope’s case and the evidence in support of the charged offenses are serious.”
“There is video evidence of William Pope entering the Capitol and refusing to leave despite officers ordering him to and pushing against him,” prosecutors added. “William Pope’s conduct and the extensive video and photographic evidence of his conduct weighs heavily in denying his motion. Both times that the defendant previously came to Washington, D.C., it was related to his preparation for his upcoming trial. This trip is not. Instead, it is a tourist visit. He claims, without offering any corroboration, that he has been invited to attend the inauguration. A supposed invitation from an unnamed person does not constitute good reason for his conditions of release to be modified. The most compelling reason to deny William Pope’s motion is that allowing his travel to Washington, D.C. places Capitol police officers in danger.”
Prosecutors went on to say that many of the same officers from Jan. 6, 2021, will be at the Capitol on Jan. 20.
“Allowing William Pope to return to Washington, D.C., specifically the Capitol building, could put him face to face with the officers that he resisted four years ago and place him in the same circumstance in which he already demonstrated a disregard for the law,” prosecutors wrote.
In his motion seeking to travel to the inauguration, Pope said he had initially declined an invitation to attend the inauguration “since I don’t enjoy being in Washington,” he said. “However, I have now been asked a second time, and I believe it would be inappropriate for me to turn this request down. I do not anticipate being in Washington before January 19, or after January 21. As with all my previous trips to D.C., I will be entirely peaceful.”
Law&Crime has covered the twists and turns of Pope’s case. In November, the one-time city council candidate in Topeka, Kansas, argued for the delay in his case — and won. He said in court papers that “wielding extreme government force can lead to a dangerous cycle of escalating retribution as control of the government continues changing hands.”
