A North Fayette man seen on video smashing a window at the Capitol with a baseball bat during the Jan. 6 insurrection and then attacking police pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Jorden Mink, 29, is one of about two dozen people from Western Pennsylvania charged with storming the Capitol in support of then-President Donald Trump’s election lies, which he continues to repeat.
Mink pleaded guilty to felony charges of assaulting police with a weapon and theft of government property, along with aiding and abetting.
Mink shattered a window with a bat and then started removing chairs from inside and handing them to other rioters. Others in the mob are seen handing out property such as lamps and drawers through the same window that Mink smashed.
Video shows him also striking another adjacent window with his bat in an attempt to break it.
Federal prosecutors said video further shows him fighting with police, spitting at some officers guarding a door and then throwing objects at them, including a traffic cone, an object that appears to be a drawer and a stick.
Mink is also seen armed with a long pole and using it to strike at officers at the Capitol entrance, hitting their shields at least five times, prosecutors said. After several minutes, in a reaction to smoke or pepper spray, the crowd retreats backward, allowing police to exit the lower west terrace and respond to rioters.
The Pittsburgh FBI arrested Mink on Jan. 19, 2021, in McKees Rocks.
The case against him started on Jan. 15, 2021, when FBI agents in Pittsburgh received a tip identifying Mink as the person seen smashing the window with the bat.
Agents were able to identify him in part from distinctive tattoos on his neck and fingers.
A search of his social media accounts also turned up an image he’d posted of himself next to the Lincoln Memorial a few days before the riot. A month earlier, he’d posted a photo of himself holding an assault rifle with an “I voted” sticker on it.
A caption on the photo said, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet – Abraham Lincoln. Well … my magazines will be fully loaded just in case it’s not.”
In earlier proceedings, Mink’s own lawyer said Mink acted like a “jerk” and an “idiot” but argued that he’s not a true threat to anyone.
He will be sentenced in April and faces almost certain prison time.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
