Jan. 6 rioter who sought to 'incite violence' by Trump supporters set to be sentenced

WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 defendant who, federal prosecutors say, sought to "incite violence," "instigate s---" and "foment anarchy" during the attack on the U.S. Capitol will be sentenced Friday afternoon, with the government arguing for a lengthy sentence of more than seven years in federal prison.

John Sullivan was convicted in November on numerous charges, including felony obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder. During closing arguments, a federal prosecutor told jurors that Sullivan went to the Capitol with the "goal of inciting the crowd," and prosecutors presented evidence of him bragging about being "on the front line" during the attack.

"I brought my megaphone to instigate s---," Sullivan said in footage played for jurors, in which Sullivan bragged that he'd sought to "make those Trump supporters f--- s--- up."

Sullivan, also known as "Jayden X," had been a cause célèbre for conservatives seeking to shift attention away from what drove the actions of the overwhelmingly pro-Donald Trump mob that stormed the Capitol and brutally attacked officers on Jan. 6, 2021. Sullivan is a political outlier among Jan. 6 defendants, many of whom still believe in the lies about the 2020 election that drove the attack. Sullivan is not a Trump supporter; prosecutors described him as an “antiestablishment” activist who wanted to “burn it all down.” He held himself out as a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, but BLM activists had distanced themselves from Sullivan in 2020. His brother James Sullivan is a right-wing activist with ties to the Proud Boys.

John Sullivan is set to be sentenced Friday afternoon by Judge Royce C. Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee who has spoken out about the seriousness of the Jan. 6 attack and ordered Sullivan locked up following his conviction last year. A sentence of seven years in federal prison would be among the longest sentences handed down in connection with the Capitol attack.

Sullivan captured some of the better-known footage of the death of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot after she jumped through a broken window leading into the House Speaker's Lobby. His footage was subsequently purchased by numerous media outlets. He argued after the riot that he was there filming as a journalist, but prosecutors showed evidence during trial that Sullivan believed that filming was simply a "good ploy so I don’t get arrested" and argued in a sentencing memo that "the real purpose of his presence at the Capitol" was "to foment anarchy."

NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, is one of the media outlets that paid to license Sullivan’s footage in the aftermath of the attack. Federal prosecutors previously seized the $90,875 in funds that Sullivan received from various media outlets and are asking a judge to impose a fine of $90,875, saying he "should not be able to ‘capitalize’ on his participation in the Capitol breach and should be fined the entire amount of his proceeds."

Sullivan told documentary filmmaker Jade Sacker, who also entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, that he was "siding with anyone willing to rip this down and put something new in place, put something better in place," prosecutors said. When he began efforts to license the footage, he shifted how he described himself, prosecutors said.

"As his campaign to sell footage to news outlets evolved, Sullivan suddenly began relabeling himself as a journalist—even changing the caption of his website from 'activist' to 'journalist,'" prosecutors wrote. "The reason for Sullivan’s reinvention is clear: he went all in on the 'good ploy' he had hatched with Sacker earlier that day in order to bury the real purpose of his presence at the Capitol—to foment anarchy."

Sullivan was also armed with "a retractable knife with an almost four inch blade" that "during two of the most serious inflection points of January 6, 2021 ... he offered up to rioters at the House Main Door and the Speaker’s Lobby Door," prosecutors said.

Sullivan's defense team said that the former Eagle Scout had a "passion for in-line ice skating" and speed skating, but his Olympic prospects were derailed by injury. They said Sullivan "had led an admirable and a caring life in which he displayed a sense of responsibility, a commitment to his family, friends and community and an individual who tried to enhance the lives of those around him," and urged the judge to "consider the whole man."

Since Sullivan was locked up after his conviction, his lawyer said there's been a "dramatic decrease in his mental stability and his overall physical presence." Sullivan has been segregated from other Jan. 6 defendants in the Washington, D.C., jail because authorities believed that being locked up with Trump-supporting Jan. 6 defendants would be "a threat to his physical safety."

Over 1,387 Capitol attack defendants have been charged, and prosecutors have secured more than 984 convictions. While hundreds of low-level Jan. 6 rioters have received probationary sentences, more than 520 have been sentenced to periods of incarceration ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison. There are only about 15 defendants in pretrial custody, meaning they haven’t been convicted of a crime, but a judge determined they are either a threat to the community or a risk of flight.