Richard Barnett is perhaps one of the most infamous January 6th Capitol rioters, as he went viral for being the man who was photographed with his feet propped up on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office desk.
The blatant display of disrespect coupled with the violent trespassing and participation in a literal insurrection earned Barnett a 54-month prison sentence in May of 2023, before now-President Donald Trump swooped in and pardoned him, as well as over 1,000 other violent January 6th offenders.
However, Barnett is making it crystal clear that despite all his legal troubles as a result of his participation in the infamous and deadly J6 attack, he has “no regrets.”
Speaking with Newsmax host Greg Kelly, Barnett said, “Oh man, what a great time to be alive. You know, I’m so happy I could be a part of it. I’ve had a lot of anger issues to work through. I mean, I’ve been through hell. But I’m telling you what, I wouldn’t give it back for anything.”
“Now let me take a look at you at that desk, and by the way, this is one of the iconic images of January 6th, and some people are horrified by it,” Kelly responded. “You say you’re glad all of this happened. Tell us why. How did this turn out to be a good thing in the end?”
“Myself and over 1,600 other J6ers showed up that day for Trump because he asked us to be there,” Barnett responded, serving as a stark reminder of Donald Trump’s role in that violent event, “and as a point in our country, I’m hoping that that was one of the reasons that the rest of America woke up and saw the corruption and destruction that was happening to our country.”
“As hard as it’s been, as much as it would have been nice for it not to have happened, it had to happen. You know, I have no regrets,” Barnett told Kelly.
The Newsmax host went on to ask about the charges Barnett received for stealing an envelope that was on Nancy Pelosi’s desk, prompting the pardoned rioter to use a disgusting slur against the former House Speaker: “I need to have some conversations with DOGE because that envelope anywhere else would have been about a 10 cent envelope, but apparently because the government bought it it was a $20 envelope. I left 25 cents on the – you might wanna bleep this – I left 25 cents on the b*tch’s desk.”
“Uh oh,” Kelly said in response to Barnett’s profanity.
“…you know, basically to pay for that envelope ’cause I had bled on it, and I didn’t feel good about leaving it behind,” Barnett continued to try to explain. “They made a huge issue out of it. You know, I paid for it, I didn’t know that the government was wasting our money to the point the taxpayers had paid $20 for an empty envelope, you know, but so be it.”
Barnett was found guilty on a range of charges related to the J6 Capitol insurrection, including entering a restricted building with a dangerous weapon and theft of government property, only to be one of 1,500 insurrectionists to receive a catch-all pardon from Donald Trump, as one of his first moves upon his return to the US presidency.
You can watch that Newsmax interview here:
Featured image via screen capture