MAGA-rioting rabbi requests a punishment of a $50 fine ahead of sentencing hearing

Michael Stepakoff, a Florida rabbi who stormed the Capitol on January 6th, is pleading for leniency and asking to only pay a $50 fine for his attempt to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory.

Via CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, Stepakoff's lawyers this week argued that he wasn't a violent Capitol rioter, and they said instead he "walked around the hallway slowly, aimlessly, staying within close range of the entry doors -- appearing aloof, incognizant, and out of place."

It's because of this, his attorneys argued, that he should only have to pay a $50 fine for illegally entering the Capitol.

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However, as prosecutors have documented, Stepakoff's social media posts in the wake of the MAGA riots were anything but "aloof" and "incognizant."

In one post, he wrote that "I think violence or even the breaking apart of the Republic might become inevitable if something isn't done immediately to ensure the integrity of the 2020 election."

He also said that, even though he is against violence generally, that "tens of millions of people in this country are not going to sit back, consent and do nothing when their sacred right to vote is taken from them through the use of rigged Dominion machines and phony ballots."

Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 45 days in jail for Stepakoff.