North Carolina man pleads guilty to helping crowd storm Capitol during Jan. 6 riots
A Mint Hill man who led a group that breached the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots pleaded guilty Wednesday to assaulting officers.
After officers barricaded the Senate Wing Door, David Paul Daniel, 37, and another person led the push to break through the wooden structure, according to federal court documents.
Daniel and the crowd that formed behind him succeeded, overwhelming the barricade and the officers trying to keep it upright as thousands of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the building, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
After being sprayed with a chemical irritant, Daniel left through a broken window and re-entered through a different window. He walked through hallways, the Small House Rotunda and the Capitol Crypt before his final exit.
Daniel lost his gray beanie during the assault, an FBI agent said in a criminal complaint.
Daniel was charged with misdemeanor offenses of entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; willfully and knowingly engaging in an act of physical violence in the grounds or any of the Capitol buildings; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
He pleaded guilty in Washington on Wednesday to felony assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden will sentence him on May 5.
Daniel joins 21 North Carolinian rioters who have been convicted in the Jan. 6 attack.
Jan. 6 riot sentencings, trials
Thousands of rioters came from Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall, where he falsely suggested the 2020 election was stolen from him.
About 1,100 defendants from all 50 states have been sentenced, with about 667 incarcerated for some amount of time, according to Department of Justice statistics.
Trump was indicted on four felony counts in August 2023 for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results — including an attempt to obstruct Congress’ certification of votes on Jan. 6. In July, though, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump has substantial immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken while in office.
Of those charged, 1,009 have pleaded guilty and 261 have been found guilty at trials, according to Department of Justice statistics.
They have collectively been convicted of 327 to felonies and 682 to misdemeanors, DOJ stats show.
Will Trump pardon the Capitol rioters?
Throughout his most recent campaign, Trump has said he will pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, calling them “patriots” and “political prisoners.”
It is unclear how he will go about pardoning some or all of the more than a thousand people charged in connection with the Capitol breach after he is sworn in on Jan. 20.
This story was originally published January 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM.
