Background: FILE — Violent rioters loyal to President Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File). Insets: Zachariah Boulton (via FBI court filings).
Federal prosecutors want the Georgia man who crossed state lines and broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — and later told a reporter he expected nothing more than “a slap on the wrist” — to go to jail.
Zachariah Boulton, 38, drove alone for 12 hours from Villa Rica, a city around 30 miles west of Atlanta, to Washington, D.C., to join the planned protest of Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win. In the days before Jan. 6, prosecutors say in a sentencing memo filed Monday, he cast a wide net, asking people to join him, posting requests on TikTok such as, “Anyone want to roll me to Washington DC jan 5th to the 6th?”
Boulton, an Army veteran and truck driver, also said that he is “always armed and ready.”
After attending President Donald Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, during which the former president urged his supporters to “ fight like hell ” against Biden’s certification, he joined the crowd at the Capitol building moving past police barriers. He entered the Capitol at 2:31 p.m., prosecutors say, around 15 minutes after the initial violent breach of the building.