New court filings detailed how close a member of the Proud Boys group got to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) during the Jan 6. capitol riot.
The documents, which were filed by prosecutors over the weekend, revealed that Proud Boys member Joshua Pruitt, who has pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, was seconds away from coming face to face with the senator during Schumer’s evacuation from the Capitol building. Pruitt will be sentenced on Friday.
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A special agent with the Capitol Police, identified by the initials M.L. in the documents obtained by CNN, pulled the senator from his chair during the riot and escorted him from the Senate floor as supporters of former President Donald Trump flooded into the building.
Schumer and his security detail were crouching while waiting for an elevator to get the senator to the basement of the Capitol when the detail leader, a sergeant with the initials K.F., spotted Pruitt moving toward the party, prosecutors said, according to CNN. K.F. who made eye contact with Pruitt, began yelling “evac, evac, evac,” as Pruitt advanced.
Security footage of the interaction confirmed that Pruitt began moving toward the party and the security detail quickly fled with Schumer. M.L. told prosecutors that Pruitt was only four or five seconds from reaching Schumer, and K.F. said he could hear Pruitt getting louder as they fled from the scene. The team moved down a ramp and out a set of double doors, which they closed behind them, causing the doors to lock. Pruitt attempted to open the double doors but was unable to and had to turn back, video showed.
“Every day I enter the beacon of our country, the U.S. Capitol, I relive the memories of that day, and none are as impactful as the moments I saw Mr. Pruitt approaching us with the intent to inflict harm to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate,” M.L. wrote in a letter to the judge, according to CNN. “My wife and daughter understand that their husband and father could have died that day, like some of my colleagues. They will never rest easy whenever I go to work again.”
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Prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Pruitt to five years in prison for his role in the riot. Pruitt pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding in June but faced eight charges, including physical acts of violence and obstructing law enforcement, before the plea deal.
