Capitol Hill rioter gets more than 7 years in jail for threatening Nancy Pelosi

Guy Reffitt, the individual accused of bringing a gun to the US Capitol building and threating Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi during the January 6 riots, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Monday.

This was the longest prison sentence handed to anyone in the ongoing trials regarding the riots and the federal judge said that the accused’s “reluctance to admit early that his behaviour is illegal is concerning”.

"Mr. Reffitt's reluctance to admit early that his behaviour is illegal is concerning. And I want to be very clear ... under no legitimate definition of the term 'patriot' (does) Mr. Reffitt's behaviour on and around January 6 fit the term. It is the antithesis of the word," District Judge Dabney Friedrich said in the official judgement.

"The officers at the Capitol are the patriots, as well as those who fought and even died to protect our democracy, our rule of law ... those in the mob are not. Not only are they not patriots, they're a direct threat to our democracy and will be punished as such," he added according to CNN.

The jury convinced Reffitt on five charges - transporting and carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds, interfering with Capitol Police and obstructing an official proceeding, according to the CNN report.

The accused shot videos inside the US Capitol building while holding a gun and that was used against him as evidence. Prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler argued that Reffitt wanted to cause harm to the elected officials and asked the judge to announce a strict prison sentence in all riot-related cases.

"We do believe he is a domestic terrorist," Nestler said according to the CNN report.