Comedian from “Mr. Show” and “Anchorman” enters a guilty plea for the Capitol attack on January 6

Comedian from "Mr. Show" and "Anchorman" enters a guilty plea for the Capitol attack on January 6
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A seasoned comic who has appeared in episodes of “Mr. Show,” “Arrested Development,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” has entered a guilty plea in relation to his involvement in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Donning a gray suit, Jay Johnston entered a guilty plea to the felony charge of hindering law enforcement during a civil disturbance. When asked how he pled, Johnson responded, “Guilty,” to U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. Nichols scheduled the sentencing hearing for October 7 at 10 a.m. and requested that the defense submit its sentencing memo by October 3 and the federal prosecutors submit theirs by September 30.

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Following his apprehension, Johnston was charged by a federal grand jury together with four other defendants from January 6. The prosecution claimed that all five individuals participated in the altercation at the Lower West tunnel that leads into the Capitol, the scene of some of the most severe rioter-on-law-enforcement violence on January 6.

In addition to allegedly “participating with other rioters in a group assault” on the cops guarding the Lower West tunnel, the FBI claimed that video footage showed Johnston “handing up a stolen U.S. Capitol police shield to other rioters.”

On the FBI’s Capitol Violence website, which features images of some of its most wanted rioters from the Capitol attack, Johnston was ranked as No. 247. According to the FBI, in order to identify Johnston, his attorney called the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center in March 2021. The FBI received a text message from one of Johnston’s contacts verifying his attendance at the Capitol on January 6, according to the bureau, which claimed it had spoken with three of his associates.

According to the news, it’s an attack. It wasn’t, in fact. I kind of thought it turned into that,” Johnston wrote in the text. It was disorganized. I found getting maced and tear-gassed to be rather fantastic.

Long before he was charged in relation to the incident, Johnston experienced negative publicity from his peers. The Daily Beast revealed in December 2021 that Johnston’s involvement in storming the Capitol led to the cancellation of Jimmy Pesto Sr., the character he portrayed on “Bob’s Burgers.” A new voice actor brought the character back later.

Johnston had played police officers in television shows like “The Sarah Silverman Show” and “Arrested Development” earlier in his career. Johnston is most known for his performance in the Mr. Show skit “The Story of Everest,” in which he played a man who, after returning from a trip of Mount Everest, kept falling into wall-mounted thimble shelves while attempting to recount the adventure. Johnston also appeared in the pivotal fight sequence of “Anchorman” as a member of Wes Mantooth’s news crew.

Over 3.5 years have passed since the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, during which time the FBI has made over 1,400 arrests and obtained over 1,000 convictions. While hundreds of low-level Jan. 6 convicts received probationary terms, Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, received more than 540 prison sentences, ranging from a few days to 22 years in federal prison for his seditious conspiracy conviction.

In many of those instances, the recent decision by the Supreme Court about the obstruction of an official proceeding charge brought against hundreds of defendants on January 6 is anticipated to have ramifications. Before the statute of limitations runs out in early 2026, the government has less than a year and a half to bring charges against hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters who have been identified by internet detectives but have not yet been taken into custody by the FBI.

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