‘It was horrifying’: Chutkan warns against complacency about Jan. 6

The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is far from ancient history and still inflicts pain and trauma on the police officers and congressional employees who lived through it, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said Friday as she sentenced a member of the pro-Trump mob.

“The effects of that day are still being felt,” Chutkan said before sentencing defendant Spencer Offman to 30 days in prison for breaching the building during the riot.

Chutkan used Friday’s sentencing in the relatively routine Jan. 6 case to make a case against complacency about the danger that the attack posed to democracy, characterizing it as a “violent attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power” in which rioters were “desecrating the center of our government.”

Chutkan, who is also presiding over Donald Trump’s federal criminal case in Washington stemming from his efforts to subvert the 2020 election — culminating in the Jan. 6 violence — didn’t mention the former president in her remarks or give any hint as to how she will handle the case following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump is immune from prosecution for some of the events in question.

But the Obama-appointed judge hinted at the possibility of future political strife as the 2024 election nears. She noted the “prospect of another election that promises to be — who knows?” appearing to stop herself before delivering a more detailed assessment.

Chutkan dwelled repeatedly on the horrors faced by Capitol police officers that day, saying she continues to hear from many who are experiencing PTSD or physical limitations, and some “who are still getting vile threats and being called names for doing their jobs.” Though Offman pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor offense for joining the mob inside the Capitol, Chutkan said his actions helped support the more sinister actors in the mob.

“You helped them by your presence,” Chutkan said. “You helped terrorize and terrify the people who were trying to keep it safe.”

Chutkan’s comments followed remarks by Offman that the judge said seemed to fall short of grasping the horror inflicted on people inside the Capitol that day. Offman, in a prepared letter to Chutkan, acknowledged his role in the mob and said he didn’t intend to be “malicious or destructive.” Rather, he described himself as a “risk taker” who viewed his trip to Trump’s Jan. 6 rally as an “adventure.”

His characterization, though, seemed to undermine his case to the judge.

“It was not an adventure, it was horrifying,” Chutkan said.

The judge recounted seeing live footage of rioters storming the Capitol and officers being attacked, noting that members of Congress and employees were hiding in fear for their lives. She noted that several law enforcement officers died by suicide in the weeks and months following the attack, and she mentioned three members of the crowd who died amid the chaos as well, including Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by a Capitol police officer as she attempted to climb through a window near the House chamber.

Chutkan agreed that Offman was a “seeker and someone who is moving through life and trying to learn and grow.” She credited his willingness to travel the country and broaden his horizons while holding a steady job for 15 years. She also commended him for working on his sobriety following two DUI arrests. But she said that wasn’t enough to avoid a modest jail sentence for his conduct.

“Everybody who went into that building,” she said, “knew they weren’t supposed to be in there.”