Cowboys for Trump head charged in Capitol riot is released from jail

Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin is headed home to New Mexico after nearly three weeks in a Washington jail, after a judge on Friday said she will trust Griffin to show up for trial in connection with the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell on Friday reversed a magistrate judge's prior detention order and released Griffin to his home in New Mexico after nearly three weeks in jail. Griffin denies federal charges that he knowingly entering barricaded areas of the Capitol grounds with the intent to disrupt government as Congress considered Electoral College results. Continued incarceration pending trial might leave Griffin in jail for longer than the one-year maximum sentence amid pandemic-related court delays, Howell said. Griffin is banned from visiting Washington outside of court proceedings, must surrender his passport and must not possess a firearm. More than 150 people have been charged in federal court with crimes following the Jan. 6 riot. In releasing Griffin, the judge said she weighed Griffin's unrepentant appearance among the riotous crowd at the Capitol and vows to return and plant a flag on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk against his apparently candid subsequent interactions with the FBI and no obvious disdain toward the judiciary. She noted repeatedly that Griffin on Jan. 6 did not carry weapons, commit violence or enter the U.S. Capitol. “I appreciate that the charge here is that he disregarded signage about restricted areas of the Capitol on Jan. 6. But his subsequent cooperation with law enforcement showed that he is not a person who has a categorical disdain and disregard for any and every government act or authority,” Howell said...MORE