Jake Lang, a rioter who was pardoned on Jan. 6, was accused of making threatening remarks to a police officer he encountered at the U.S. Capitol.
On January 6 this year, Long appeared in front of the camera at a fifth anniversary event and told the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Jason Bagshaw said he should be “put down like a dead dog” and “hang” in front of the Capitol.
On January 6, 2021, Long was involved in a brutal battle between Trump supporters and police in the West Tunnel under the Capitol, where Bagshaw was also confronting rioters that day.
Long now faces misdemeanor charges in D.C. Superior Court, with prosecutors saying his comments about Bagshaw constituted a threat.
Prosecutors said Long approached Bagshaw and pointed at him, quoting Long as saying “public execution is the only solution for an animal like you” and that Bagshaw needed to be “dragged out by his ankles” and thrown into the “Potomac River.”
Long’s attorney, James Thomas Ryan, declined to comment.
On January 6, 2021, Long and other Trump supporters clashed with police in the West tunnel of the U.S. Capitol. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images file)
(Brent Stirton)
Long is a white supremacist and pro-Trump influencer who pardoned more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants after Trump returned to office in January 2025. Long’s actions at the Capitol were extensively documented on cellphone, body camera and closed-circuit television videos. He bragged about his actions on Instagram, calling the mob an “organized group of patriots trying to stand up to a tyrant.”
Although Long was one of the few rioters held in pretrial detention because a Trump-appointed judge said he had “very strong” evidence and that he had “publicly expressed a willingness to use violence in the future,” he was not convicted and his trial did not proceed until Trump pardoned him.
In Washington, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia handles local and federal crimes; it declined to comment.
An arrest warrant was issued on Friday and Long was arraigned on Saturday, where he pleaded not guilty.
A status hearing is scheduled for March 24 and Long has been ordered to leave, but the details are unclear.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com