Adam Christian Johnson, also known as the "Podium Guy",[1][2] is an American convicted criminal who took part in the United States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. A photograph of Johnson carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lectern became a prominent image of the attack.
Adam Johnson | |
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| Born | Adam Christian Johnson Millington, Tennessee, U.S. |
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| Known for | January 6 United States Capitol attack |
| Conviction(s) | Entering and remaining in a restricted building (18 U.S.C. § 1752) |
| Criminal penalty | 75 days imprisonment plus a $5,000 fine |
On February 25, 2022, he was convicted of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and was sentenced to 75 days of incarceration with a $5,000 fine.[3]
Early life, career and politics
Johnson was born in Millington, Tennessee, and lived most of his life in Southwest Florida and attending the University of South Florida. In his late teens and early twenties, he was arrested on two separate misdemeanor marijuana charges by Manatee County police. He violated probation in 2005 by failing to submit needed supervision reports.[2] Johnson had listed his occupation as a cook in 2005,[2] and had worked as a furniture maker.[4] He was unemployed at the time of the insurrection.[2]
At the time of the Capitol attack, he had been registered with no party affiliation since 2019, having initially registered as a Republican in Florida's voter registration database in 2002.[5][2] He voted in the 2004 and 2020 general elections,[6] but did not vote in the 2016 election.[2] Posts on his Facebook page before the attack showed him wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat.[5] He had also derided the Black Lives Matter movement on social media.[6]
January 6 United States Capitol attack
Before the attack, Johnson shared on social media that he would be in Washington, D.C.[6] On the way to the Capitol, he posted selfies on Facebook in an airport with other MAGA supporters.[2] In a rally on the night of January 5, a Washington Post videographer captured him shouting expletives and implying that he did not believe President Biden was legitimately elected.[3] Following the rally, he posted a photo of himself on Facebook with the caption, "Riot!!!"[3]
On January 6, 2021, during the United States Capitol attack, Johnson was at the front of the riot, having sprinted from the "Stop the Steal" rally at the White House after learning of the attack.[3] He spent 35 minutes inside the Capitol, entering three highly sensitive areas of the Capitol according to prosecutors, and was photographed jiggling the handle of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office suite.[3] He found Pelosi's lectern near a spiral staircase and carried it to the Capitol rotunda.[7] In the rotunda, he was photographed by a Getty Images photographer Win McNamee wearing a Trump themed ski cap and holding the lectern in his right arm.[8][4] He asked a woman to take pictures of him standing in front of the podium, then left the lectern in the middle of the room.[7] He was then recorded telling the other rioters to use a bust of George Washington to break down the doors to the House Chamber, as well as other encouragement.[3]
In the hours following the riot and the publishing of the photograph, Johnson was nicknamed "Podium Guy" on the internet.[2] He wrote on social media that he “broke the internet” and that he was “finally famous.”[3][9]
The location of the lectern was not immediately known following the attack.[10] The federal warrant for Johnson's arrest stated that "on or about January 7, 2021, the lectern was found by a member of the Senate staff in the Red corridor of the Senate wing off the Rotunda in the Capitol building," and that "according to the House of Representatives’ curator, the Speaker's lectern has a market value of more than $1,000."[11] The lectern would later be placed in the Capitol's Rayburn Room on January 13 for an engrossment ceremony of the House impeachment resolution.[12]
The FBI searched for Johnson following the attack.[10] He was later identified by residents of Bradenton, Florida through the photos taken of him during the attack,[5] and this was published in The Bradenton Herald on January 8, 2021.[4] He was arrested on January 8[3] after being reported to the FBI by his acquaintance Allan Mestel, and held in Pinellas County Jail pending charges and on a warrant from the United States Marshals Service.[11][6] He cooperated fully with federal agents, but had destroyed his photographs and social media accounts before his arrest.[3]
Trial and incarceration
Johnson was charged with "one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; one count of theft of government property; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds."[10][8] He was released on $25,000 bond on January 11, 2021.[13]
Federal prosecutors initially asked for a 90-day sentence.[1][14] On November 22, 2021, Johnson reached a plea agreement and pleaded guilty in federal court to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and prosecutors dismissed his charges of theft of government property and of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.[7] The plea deal also included an agreement on a potential book or "something of that nature" that would be published by Johnson, which gave the government rights to any profit that Johnson acquired as a result of that product for five years.[7] During his trial, judge Reggie Walton recommended he read the books How Civil Wars Start, and The Next Civil War.[3] On February 25, 2022, Johnson was sentenced to 75 days in prison with a year of supervised release and 200 hours of community service, and he was ordered to pay a $5,525 fine.[1][3][14][15][16]
In popular culture
Actor and political artist Jim Carrey created a portrait of Johnson following the attack, entitled #fuckedforlife.[17] John Krasinski mimicked Johnson carrying the lectern in an episode of Saturday Night Live.[18]
Personal life
Johnson was a stay-at-home father of five boys, and was married to a medical doctor, his second wife.[2][3] At the time of the Capitol attack, he was 36 and lived in Manatee County, Florida.[6] He went to a Baptist church.[2]