Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Age in NPR record
- 25
- Location
- Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
- Charges
- Conspiracy to Obstruct Official Proceeding; Obstruction of an Official Proceeding; Civil Disorder; Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon and Aiding and Abetting; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Impeding Ingress and Egress in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon and Aiding and Abetting; Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building or Grounds; Impeding Passage Through the Capitol Grounds or Buildings and Aiding and Abetting; Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings
- Case status
- Pleaded guilty; Dismissed in part or full; Sentenced
- Presidential action
- Pardon
Case Summary
“Take off the 6th man! It’s the Big one!!! Trump is literally calling people to DC in a show of force,” Charles Bradford Smith, known as Brad Smith, allegedly wrote on Dec. 31, 2021, urging a friend on Facebook to travel with him to Washington, D.C. According to the FBI, Smith also told a friend, “If it’s big enough we should all just storm the buildings.” Three days before coming to D.C., Smith allegedly purchased a KA-BAR military-style knife. On Jan. 6, 2021, Smith is allegedly seen yelling and encouraging rioters to keep forcing a door to the U.S. Capitol closed so that police officers inside could not respond to the riots outside. “Well we literally chased them out into hiding…Pence cucked like we knew he would but that was an Unbelievable show of force and it did its job,” he allegedly wrote to a friend after the riot. Smith faces seven charges, including four felonies.
Case History
Smith pleaded Guilty to two charges: Conspiracy to Obstruct Official Proceeding and a lesser offense as to Count 4s, Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers and Aiding and Abetting. The other charges are dismissed. Sentenced on 9/23/2022 to 41 months incarceration; 36 months supervised release; $2,000 restitution. Smith received a full pardon on January 20, 2025
Sources
- Primary Documentation
NPR Jan. 6 Defendant DatabaseNPR - Primary Documentation
Underlying court recordCourt record linked by NPR - Supporting Reporting
NPR video evidence pageNPR
Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.