In the vanishing days of 2020, Anthony Williams was adamantly certain about his plans to “Storm the Swamp” and one week later, federal prosecutors allege in court records, he did just that: he joined the pro-Trump, QAnon-believing horde that rampaged the Capitol on January 6 last year. A day, mind you, that he referred to [1] as the “proudest of his life.” Oh, and he’s also been in a “committed romantic relationship,” according to his defense attorney, who filed a recent brief requesting permission for Williams to visit his girlfriend’s family in Jamaica.
It’s kind of like those old “I’m going to Disneyland” [2] commercials, only this time there ain’t no Disneyland. And there definitely ain’t no Jamaica.
Williams received the smackdown thanks to the chief federal judge in Washington, D.C. just as President Joe Biden and members of Congress were commemorating the one-year anniversary of the failed siege, Insider [3] reports.
And the smackdown, as delivered by Chief Judge Beryl Howell, appointed to the federal trial court in 2010, was a feisty one at that.
“This court will not commemorate the one-year anniversary of this attack on the Capitol by granting defendant’s request for non-essential foreign travel when he is awaiting judgment for that day,” Howell wrote.
William’s attorney argued [4] that, under the terms of his client’s release, Howell “must approve any travel outside of the continental United States.”
That, however, wasn’t the way Howell saw things.
In an order Thursday, Howell noted Williams “wishes to leave the Michigan winter to spend 10 days in the warmer climes of Jamaica to meet the family of a woman with whom defendant has been in a committed relationship for ‘more than a year.'”
“Although such a meeting may be an important step in defendant’s personal relationship, defendant surrendered his entitlement to unfettered international travel when, also ‘more than a year ago,’ he declared his intent to come to Washington and later breached the Capitol.”
Williams was indicted by a federal grand jury in May on charges associated with the January 6 attack. In June, he pleaded not guilty and was released on a number of conditions — including one that specified that he must receive the court’s approval for international travel.
Williams is one of more than [5] 700 alleged participants in the failed Capitol siege who have been arrested, and Insider notes:
“Federal authorities have described the investigation as unprecedented, and on Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said [6] the Justice Department was committed to ‘holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.'”
So there won’t be any Disneyland or Jamaica for Williams. He’ll just have to stew in his own juices just like all the other 700+ fools who were duped by a former president drunk on his own lies.