WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pennsylvania mother known as the “Megaphone Lady” because she used the sound amplifier to instruct protesters on Capitol Hill was sentenced Tuesday on nine federal counts.
Rachel Powell was found guilty of a variety of charges, including felony interference with officers in the performance of their duties and obstruction of official proceeding. Powell’s bench trial was held in May, and U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth returned the verdict Tuesday. Powell was escorted to court by her sons, one of whom wore a red hat reading “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” into the courtroom. Powell had posted on social media that Trump had gifted her son a MAGA hat.
Powell’s identity was discovered online”sedition hunterswho has since identified hundreds of additional Capitol rioters, and his identity was publicly revealed in a February 2021 story in The New Yorker. Powell, also known as the “Pink Hat Lady,” was arrested days later.
In a video, as rioters entered a conference room on the west side of the Capitol, Powell gave a description of a meeting room layout and said they should “coordinate together if they’re going to take over this building.” Her comments initially led investigators to believe that the woman had some form of inside knowledge of the Capitol building.
