‘Looks can be deceiving’: DOJ says Pelosi laptop stealer is a ‘threat to democracy'

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon urged jurors to look past the 5'2" frame of 23-year-old Jan. 6 defendant Riley Williams during opening arguments in her trial on Tuesday.

"Riley June Williams, a 23-year-old Pennsylvania woman affiliated with the extremist 'Groyper' movement, is facing eight counts in connection with the Jan. 6 attack," NBC News reported. "Williams is charged with obstructing, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement officers during civil disorder; obstructing an official proceeding; assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with law enforcement officers inside the Capitol building; stealing government property; and four misdemeanor charges faced by defendants who entered the Capitol."

Politico reported on how Gordan opened his arguments.

“She doesn’t look like someone who would fight through tear gas and … physically attack police standing in her way,” the prosecutor said. “Looks can be deceiving.”

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“She hated former Vice President Mike Pence,” Gordon said. “She hated Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi even more.”

Williams allegedly stole a laptop from Pelosi's office.

Lori Ulrich, Williams' defense attorney, described her client as, "a girl wanting to be a somebody.”

"The case is one of the most unusual to emerge among the 900 people being prosecuted so far for their role in the mob attack on the Capitol," Politico reported. "Among the issues that will come up in trial is Williams’ intense interest in the Groypers, the name given to followers of white nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes, a prominent purveyor of claims that the 2020 election had been stolen. Williams shared memes about her actions on Jan. 6 that indicated she was motivated by those messages, and her green T-shirt that she wore during the riot read 'I’m with Groyper.'"