Rachel Powell, marginally famous as the "bullhorn lady" filmed breaking into the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots, was today found guilty on a felony charge of obstructing police, among nine other counts. Powell was filmed smashing a window and barking orders at other rioters; she recently boasted that former President Trump had gifted a MAGA hat to one of her children.
Powell's identity was discovered by online "Sedition Hunters" who have since identified hundreds of additional Capitol rioters, and her identity was publicly revealed in a Feb. 2021 story in The New Yorker. Powell, who was also known as "Pink Hat Lady," was arrested days later. In one video, as rioters entered a conference room on the west side of the Capitol, Powell gave a description of the layout of an adjourning room, and says they should "coordinate together if you are going to take this building." Her comments initially led investigators to think that the woman had some kind of insider knowledge of the Capitol building.
A sterling example of one of the many arrested because they publicized their own crimes, but unusual in the sense that she has not groveled to the court (or retracted earlier groveling) in the manner of many Jan 6 defendents. But her sentencing is yet to come.
Powell was profiled in The New Yorker a couple of years ago, as an exemplary MAGA moron in way over her head.
During the interview, she reviewed photographs and videos of the Bullhorn Lady, acknowledging that many of the images showed her, and offered detailed descriptions of the skirmishes they depicted. She declined to comment on some of her conduct—including smashing windows and shouting orders to fellow-rioters—that could carry criminal charges. "Listen, if somebody doesn't help and direct people, then do more people die?" she said. "That's all I'm going to say about that. I can't say anymore. I need to talk to an attorney."
