The rioter seen hanging from the Senate chamber during the US Capitol siege has surrendered to authorities, sheriff officials said.
Josiah Colt, 34, of Boise, Idaho, turned himself in to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday afternoon and was placed on a US Marshals hold, a sheriff’s department spokesman told the Idaho Statesman.
Colt’s public defender, Chuck Peterson, said he’s been charged federally with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Both charges are misdemeanors and Colt is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 19, Peterson said in an email to The Post.
“We have no further comment at this time,” Peterson wrote. “He was released on terms established for pretrial release.”
Colt — who boasted on video that he was “all over the news now” after breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6 — also bragged about being the first rioter to sit in a chair reserved for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, although he was mistaken.
“I just got in the Capitol building,” Colt said on the clip. “I hopped down into the chamber.”
But Colt, who called Pelosi “treasonous,” was actually sitting in a chair used by Vice President Mike Pence in the Senate chamber.
A federal court filing obtained by The Post shows Colt hopped onto the Senate floor without authorization sometime between 2 and 4 p.m. The statement of facts also noted that the digital marketing professional has “admitted his involvement” in the deadly riot to a local television station.
“I got caught up in the moment and when I saw the door to the chamber open, I walked in, hopped down and sat on the chair,” Colt told KBOI in a statement. “I said my peace then I helped a gentleman get to safety that was injured then left.”
Colt acknowledged his actions “brought shame” upon himself, but insisted he told other rioters “not to do any damage” while inside, according to the statement.
“Some of them wanted to trash the place and steal stuff but I told them not to and to leave everything in its place,” Colt’s statement continued, adding that he didn’t intend to “put a stain” on the country’s democratic process.
One of Colt’s relatives, meanwhile, confirmed to FBI investigators that he was the man seen making his way onto the Senate floor, the filing noted.
“The relative confirmed that the individual in the aforementioned photograph hanging from the balcony and sitting in the vice president’s seat is the defendant,” an FBI investigator wrote.
Several photos in the federal court filing also show Colt inside the Senate chamber.
FBI and Department of Justice officials said Tuesday that a wide-ranging investigation was underway into the deadly riot, with more than 70 people charged thus far. More than 100,000 pieces of digital evidence are being analyzed and authorities said they expect “hundreds” of people to be charged.
