'Chaos agent': Jan. 6 defendant with 'claimed left-wing ties' gets 6 years in prison

John Sullivan, a convicted rioter in the January 6 Capitol attack, has been sentenced to six years in prison, reported Politico's Kyle Cheney on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth cited Sullivan as a "chaos agent" at sentencing, saying that he was acting not out of support for former President Donald Trump, as most of the rioters were, but simply for the sake of causing social disruption and violence.

A Utah-based man who describes himself as a "political activist," Sullivan was convicted of several offenses including entering a restricted area with a deadly weapon and obstructing police officers during civil disorder. He also captured footage of the moment when fellow rioter Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot trying to force her way through a window into a part of the Capitol where lawmakers were evacuating; federal agents seized $90,000 he made selling that footage.

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Sullivan, noted Cheney, is "unique among Jan. 6 defendants in that he has claimed left-wing ties ... Since his conviction, Sullivan has been in the DC jail. But because of his claims of a left-wing affiliation, he says he’s been kept in total isolation from other Jan. 6 defendants. He tearfully described the suffering he says he’s endured in the jail for the last 5 months."

For their part, prosecutors "say despite his claims to be on the left, he’s really a 'one-man band' who was happy to join Trump supporters when they were willing to burn down the same system he opposes. They said he has espoused 'noble' goals but deployed 'violent' means to achieve them."

The January 6 attack has become one of the largest criminal prosecution efforts in the history of the United States; more than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the event. Most of them were arrested on misdemeanor offenses like unlawful picketing, trespassing, and disorderly conduct. However, a smaller number were charged or convicted of more serious offenses like assaulting police officers, and, in some cases, seditious conspiracy.

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