The man who was photographed with his feet up on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk during the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol told Newsmax TV he "was knocked into the building" during a "melee" and only took a letter from her office because he bled on it.
"When I was at the Capitol, I didn't go there to storm the Capitol," Richard Barnett, 60, of Arkansas told Thursday's "Greg Kelly Reports," appearing with his lawyers Joseph McBride and Steven Metcalf.
Barnett, saying he went to "peacefully protest" an election he believed "was stolen," and told host Greg Kelly he was heading to his car to go home, but he "got separated because of the melee that was going on" and walked to the top steps of the Capitol to try to signal to his friends.
"At that point, the crowd rushed me," Barnett added, as he was prompted by his lawyers to "say, 'you fell.'"
"I was knocked into the building," he continued. "I fell and was trampled and I cut myself."
Barnett faces a felony charge of entering the Capitol with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor charges of unlawful entry to a restricted building, disorderly conduct, and theft. He appeared with his lawyers to refute each of the charges as he celebrates his long overdue release to home confinement this week.
"It was a tough row to hoe, but I made it through, and I'm real excited to be out," Barnett said after being held without bail for nearly 4 months since turning himself in Jan. 8.
Federal Judge Christopher Cooper of Washington, D.C., District Court ordered him to home confinement, ruling prosecutors fell short of evidence for detention on the basis of a threat of future violence.
"It's out there I threw a hissy fit at one of them court hearings," Barnett told host Greg Kelly, exulting to the judge he was being "treated unfairly" remaining detained as violent criminals were getting release far sooner. "You know, it was tough. I was watching these other people go out."
Barnett noted he was non-violent, peaceful, and even helped riot control officers during the storming of the Capitol.
"Not only did I not get violent, I did what I could to help officers at certain points," Barnett said. "It's good to be out now. I don't have a lot to say about it. I haven't been to trial yet, but, yeah, I felt like it was unfair."
Metcalf declined to permit Barnett to respond to Kelly's question about "any regrets" for participating in the storming of the Capitol or "Richard's state of mind," but they did make a note Barnett "fell into the Capitol" during the melee.
McBride noted the "stun gun" shown on Barnett's hip in the notorious Pelosi desk photo was a "multi-use tool" Barnett had with him amid fears of antifa counter protesters, but it was disabled and only used as a "walking stick" on Jan. 6.
"He went to the Jan. 6 event with the stun-gun portion of the device disabled," Metcalf said. "We stand by that comment. We stood by that since the beginning. We will stand by that until the end.
"The evidence will support our statement and we hope to bring that out at trial."
As for the infamous note and 25 cents he left to cover the letter he said he had to take from Pelosi's desk because he bled on it, Barnett's attorneys argue prosecutors misinterpreted his street slang incorrectly as vulgar language of the word for a female dog.
"Hey, Nancy, Bigo was here biatch," read the Barnett, aka Bigo, note put into evidence by prosecutors.
They argue the term was harmless, tongue in cheek, and not derogatory.
"We're talking about federal charges here," Metcalf told Kelly. "Among those charges I didn't see: diarrhea of the mouth. This comment and the interpretation of this has been interpreted completely differently than how it should, and how our papers laid it out.
"The government used this as an exhibit and their first focal point in trying to show that Richard was dangerous. We simply pointed out, as Joseph and I do in our cases, we pointed out there was a misrepresentation on how that was specifically quoted."
The handwritten note clearly does not spell out the word for a female dog (b*tch) because it has a distinct vowel after the bi. Street slang biatch can be viewed as a term among friends.
Barnett denied having requested a pardon from President Donald Trump before he left office in January.
"I have all the respect in the world for President Trump," Barnett said. "I think he's a great man. I believe in him.
"At this point, I do not have any ill-will toward him. I did not ask for a pardon; however, I do have questions, so 'President Trump if you get a chance, I would love to talk to you. You can give my attorneys a call.'"
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