WASHINGTON — A host of the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars pleaded guilty Friday to unlawfully being on a restricted part of U.S. Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6 riot.
Owen Shroyer, an Austin, Texas, resident and host of “The War Room With Owen Shroyer,” was charged in August 2021 with four misdemeanor counts.
On Friday, Shroyer appeared before U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining a restricted grounds. Kelly set a sentencing hearing in the case for Sept. 12.
Shroyer is represented by Connecticut-based defense attorney Norm Pattis, who also represented former InfoWars employee and Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs in his trial earlier this year. Biggs was one of four Proud Boys leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy in May. Pattis, who also represented InfoWars founder Alex Jones, was disciplined in January for improperly giving other Jones attorneys medical records of the relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting. That six-week suspension was stayed while Pattis appeals.
In charging documents, prosecutors said Shroyer can be seen in video and images from Jan. 6 standing near Jones and “Stop the Steal” rally organizer Ali Alexander in a restricted area of the Capitol grounds near the inauguration stage. To date, neither Jones nor Alexander have been charged in connection with the riot.
Shroyer also called into an InfoWars broadcast live on January 6 from the Capitol grounds. During the call, Shroyer claimed there were “probably 100,000 people” at the Capitol and said, “They’ve taken the Capitol grounds. They’ve surrounded the building itself. They’re on the actual building structure… We literally own these streets right now.”
Shroyer entered into a deferred prosecution agreement after he was arrested on two misdemeanor charges in December 2019 for disrupting a House Judiciary Committee meeting regarding the second impeachment of then-President Donald Trump.
During the hearing, Shroyer jumped up and yelled that Americans were "sick of your impeachment scam."
"You're the one committing treason!" he yelled at then-House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
Shroyer's deferred prosecution agreement called for him not to engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct in the Capitol grounds or building or to parade, demonstrate or picket within any Capitol building.
Shroyer informed his audience live on air the day he was charged that he’d been informed a warrant had been issued for his arrest in connection with Jan. 6. At the time, Shroyer maintained his innocence.
"I plan on declaring innocence of these charges, because I am," he said.
"Probably shouldn't even be on air right now, but, we're going to go ahead and do a broadcast anyway," he added.