Idaho man who stormed Capitol, jumped onto Senate floor is in custody

By Jacob Scholl Idaho Statesman • January 13, 2021 6:00 pm
Win McNamee/Getty Images A rioter allegedly identified as Josiah Colt, 34, of Treasure Valley, Idaho, drops into the Senate Chamber on Wednesday, Jan. 6, in Washington, D.C.
Win McNamee/Getty Images A rioter allegedly identified as Josiah Colt, 34, of Treasure Valley, Idaho, drops into the Senate Chamber on Wednesday, Jan. 6, in Washington, D.C.

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho man seen jumping onto the floor of the U.S. Senate during a riot in Washington, D.C. , last week is now in custody at the Ada County Jail.

Josiah Colt, 34, was in custody as of Tuesday afternoon on a U.S. Marshal’s hold, according to Patrick Orr, spokesman for the Ada County Sheriff’s Office

News of Colt’s incarceration was first reported by Boise’s KBOI Channel 2, which filmed him entering the Ada County Sheriff’s Office with another person to turn himself in.

As of Tuesday evening, federal court records did not show charges being filed, though they could be filed under seal. A search of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia also yielded no results.

Colt, a Treasure Valley resident, was one of the hundreds of people who stormed into the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday after a speech from President Donald Trump on the day that Congress was certifying the election victory of Joe Biden.

Colt posted a video to Facebook, which later spread to other platforms like YouTube, in which he erroneously claimed he was the first rioter to sit in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s chair, calling her treasonous and a traitor. Colt actually was in the Senate chamber and was photographed in the seat reserved for the vice president.

“I just got in the Capitol building,” he says in the video. “I hopped down into the chamber.”

Following the riot at the Capitol, Colt issued a statement to KBOI apologizing for his actions and calling the Senate Chamber “sacred ground.”

“(I) sincerely apologize to the American people,” Colt said in the statement. “I recognize my actions that have brought shame upon myself, my family, my friends, and my beautiful country. In the moment I thought I was doing the right thing. I realize now that my actions were inappropriate and I beg for forgiveness from America and my home state of Idaho.”

Though he has not been named by federal officials, a photo of Colt lowering himself onto the Senate floor was included in the Metropolitan Police Department’s list of individuals labeled “persons of interest” in connection with the illegal activity at the Capitol.

According to Huffington Post, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin said in a press briefing Tuesday that there were more than 170 files opened in connection with the attack, and that number could increase. Dozens of pro-Trump rioters have been arrested and charged in the past few days.