A Monday hearing pertaining to the January 6 Capitol riots took a turn for the chaotic, after defendant Vitali GossJankowski got into a physical confrontation with federal agents after being ordered to jail.
GossJankowski, a 34-year-old Florida native who had been attending school in Washington, D.C., in January 2021, is among the growing list of individuals arrested in connection with the deadly riot spurred on by claims of election fraud by former President Donald Trump. According to a July press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), over 1,000 defendants have been charged in connection with the riot, hailing from nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Over 300 have been sentenced to prison after being found guilty.
GossJankowski's lastest hearing also concerned jail time, though he has yet to be formally sentenced after being convicted on several charges earlier this year. Instead, on Monday, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Paul Friedman ordered the defendant to be jailed immediately ahead of sentencing, as had been requested by prosecutors in light of a series of Instagram posts he made, seemingly threatening FBI employees and releasing private information about them. Friedman characterized the posts as "extremely troubling and dangerous."
In reaction to this decision, GossJankowski became irate and began resisting federal agents who tried to detain him, nearly knocking over a table, as explained by reporter Scott MacFarlane, who was present in the courtroom. MacFarlane also noted the difficulty the agents had getting the defendant under control, due to his height, 6-feet-3-inches, and muscular, with the reporter comparing him to a football player.
"Marshals order courtroom cleared as GossJankowski is physically resisting agents who are trying to cuff him," MacFarlane wrote in a series of posts to X, the platform previously known as Twitter. "He makes gutteral [sic] screams and fights off agents. A computer plunges off defense table in the scrum. Other agents from elsewhere in courthouse run into Judge Friedman's courtroom to corral GossJankowski, who is huge and strong."
He continued: "Seven to eight agents finally get GossJankowski under control. He's going straight to DC jail. GossJankowski is built like a Division-1 linebacker. Took a while for Feds to contain him."
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia via email for comment.
Earlier in the day, MacFarlane shared a collection of screenshots showing messages that GossJankowski was accused of sending to a law enforcement officer over the weekend. They included multiple instances of derogatory language and slurs directed at Black and Jewish people.
"If you don't think Jan. 6 had anything to do with white supremacy and/or anti-semitism, I encourage you to read about this morning's detention hearing for Vitali Gossjankowski, who physically brawled with law enforcement after being remanded to jail," Lisa Rubin, a legal analyst for MSNBC, wrote in a post responding to the allegations against GossJankowski.
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