A man who watched the Capitol Hill riots on a Tinder date's television and ordered an Uber to join in has been jailed.
Jeffrey Schaefer, 36, from Delaware, had driven to northern Virginia to spend a night at a woman's house he had just met on Tinder, when the next day he saw former President Trump's January 6 riots.
He was watching the riots unfold on the woman's television at her home in Alexandria, and subsequently ordered an Uber to take him to the protest in Washington.
Justice Department prosecutor Anita Eve said in a court filing: “He had the Uber driver drop him off near the west front of the Capitol and he approached the Capitol from that drop-off point."
Mr Schaefer found a broken window near the Senate Wing doors and entered the Capitol as he joined rioters chanting during the 28 minutes he spent inside the building.
He left through the door and posted images of his protest on Facebook which showed a pile of media equipment destroyed next to him.
The 36-year-old was arrested in January 2022, and he pleaded guilty in August to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building - with the maximum sentence of six months behind bars.
His lawyer, Joshua Insley, argued his client wasn't engaged in any violence or destructive conduct when Congress came together to certify the results of Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
Mr Schaefer was once a "committed supporter" of Donald Trump but now thinks he was “manipulated and used by those who hold power and will never face any consequences”, according to his lawyer.
Mr Insley said: “While Mr. Schaefer accepts responsibility for his actions, he was guided and urged every step of the way by no less of an authority than the President of the United States and a majority of Republican Senators and Congressman that continued to repeat the ‘Big Lie’ that the election had been stolen by the Democrats.”
He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
There have been more than 900 people charged with Capitol riot offences, and over 460 of them have pleaded guilty to misdemeanour offences.
320 have been sentenced with half of them receiving prison sentences ranging from seven days to 10 years.
