Pro-Trump live-streamer arrested, charged with using giant ‘Trump 2020’ sign against officers
WASHINGTON — A live-streamer who was a frequent presence at the “Freedom Corner” protests in support of Jan. 6 defendants has been arrested on Capitol attack charges, nearly two years after he was publicly identified by online “sedition hunters” who have aided in hundreds of Jan. 6 arrests.
David Valentine, known to online sleuths as #YellowSizzler, was arrested in Wisconsin, according to court records. Valentine has often attended “Freedom Corner,” the nightly demonstration outside a jail in the nation’s capital in support of Jan. 6 rioters that former President Donald Trump has called into in the past. Online “sedition hunters” identified Valentine in 2022, according to a website affiliated with the sleuths.
Authorities say Valentine was one of the rioters who pushed a giant metal framed “Trump 2020” sign at a line of police officers, and that he also cut some wires with a folding knife close to the lower west tunnel, where some of the worst violence of the day took place. He faces a felony civil disorder charge along with misdemeanor offenses.
Other “Freedom Corner” participants who have subsequently been charged for their activities on Jan. 6 include Tommy Tatum and Taylor Taranto, both of whom were identified by NBC News as Jan. 6 participants before they were arrested and charged. Taranto, who was arrested outside Obama’s Washington, D.C. home, is one of just a handful of Jan. 6 rioters being held in pretrial detention.
More than 1,400 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack and prosecutors have secured convictions against more than 1,000 defendants. More than 560 defendants have been sentenced to periods of incarceration ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison.
Two weeks ago, one of the most violent Jan. 6 rioters, David Dempsey, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Prosecutors said Dempsey had repeatedly used “his hands, feet, flag poles, crutches, pepper spray, broken pieces of furniture, and anything else he could get his hands on” to assault officers over and over again. After his sentencing, Dempsey called into “Freedom Corner” and predicted that Trump would win the November election and get him out of prison.
“Don’t celebrate too hard man, because that sentence is only gonna last, like, six months,” Dempsey said. “And then we’re going to have four years of dragging our nuts across your forehead, because Donald Trump is gonna win, and he ain’t just gonna win, but he ain’t just gonna win… he’s gonna win bigly,” Dempsey said, before breaking into a Trump impression.
Some officers who were assaulted on Jan. 6 are supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, with former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell speaking during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week.
