A Mercer County mother of eight who screamed “Whose house? Our house!” while storming the Capitol in support of Donald Trump’s lies will almost certainly be headed for the Big House in the fall after a judge convicted her on all counts.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth held a bench trial for Rachel Powell in May and made his ruling Tuesday. The government presented four witnesses at the trial along with video and other evidence, including Powell’s own statements on Facebook.
The defense presented no witnesses.
Powell, of Sandy Lake, has been alternately known as the “pink hat lady” because of the pink headwear she had on during the insurrection and also as the “bullhorn lady” because she used one to exhort fellow rioters during the chaos.
Either way, she’s now a convicted felon.
She is among some two dozen people from the Western Pennsylvania region to be charged in the riot, many of whom have gone to federal prison.
Lamberth said Powell pushed bike racks against police, smashed a window with a pipe and instructed fellow rioters on how to penetrate the Capitol using her bullhorn. He said she also admitted her actions in a phone call to her daughter.
The judge said her statements on Facebook that she and other Trump supporters were in a “war” and that legal routes are a “dead end” show that she knew what she was doing was wrong.
“They also show that she acted with a purpose of procuring for herself and another — former President Trump — the benefit of his continuance in office,” Lamberth wrote.
Powell left her children unattended to travel to Washington for the Jan. 6, 2021, Trump rally and then smashed her way into the building with the Trump mob. She later gave an interview to The New Yorker while the FBI was hunting for her.
When agents caught up to her, they searched her house and found go-bags, ammunition and shuriken throwing stars.
After her arrest, she repeatedly defied judge’s orders regarding the conditions of her release.
Lambert said he’ll sentence her on Oct. 17. Prosecutors asked that he have U.S. marshals take her into custody after the verdict, but the judge denied the request. She remains free on bond.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
