Back on topic. In today's update on the "hostages" still being held in jail, let's meet…
Jacob Lang: Unapologetic rioter charged with repeatedly assaulting law enforcement
Jacob Lang who can be seen on video hitting law enforcement officers with a baseball bat and riot shield faces multiple charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, as well as felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. He was arrested in January 2021."I was the leader of Liberty today," Lang wrote on Facebook after the riot, wrongly tagging himself at the White House. "Arrest me. You are on the wrong side of history."
He said the day after the attack that it was "war" at the Capitol, not a mere protest.
Lang, the government notes, hosts a weekly podcast for a conservative conspiracy website from behind bars and paints himself as a "political prisoner." Lang has cycled through lawyers and recently hired Anthony Frank Sabatini, a Republican and former Florida state representative who is running for Congress.
"I don't play the watered-down version of Jan. 6, the 'there was mistakes made that day.' No, no, I think that was well within our rights and constitutional duty to overthrow the chains of tyranny," he said in one podcast.
Lang was being held in the jail in Washington but was transferred to a facility in Brooklyn, New York. "Lang not only remains willing to engage in additional acts of violence whenever he deems such violence necessary, but continues to believe that such violence is justified," prosecutors recently wrote."For Lang, little has changed since January 6, 2021 or the days that followed when according to Lang, the next step was 'guns' and he tried to form and armed militia," they wrote.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said last year that the argument for Lang's continued detention was "strong," noting that Lang was at the forefront of the mob and that his "overt expressions of willingness to use violence in the future, along with the violent nature of Lang's offenses on January 6th, convinced this Court that Lang could not be released with adequate assurances of community safety."
Why he's in jail: A judge cited overwhelming evidence that he repeatedly assaulted officers and a continued willingness to engage in violence.