Riley June Williams

Case Summary

According to court documents, the authorities have a host of video evidence against Riley June Williams. Among other things, she was filmed by an ITV news crew inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The footage shows her yelling, “Upstairs, upstairs, upstairs” while she was physically directing people up a staircase. The charging documents say that the staircase led to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. Williams’ mother allegedly confirmed to authorities that the woman in the images is her daughter. Authorities also matched the image to Williams’ driver’s license, the court documents say. Williams, who worked at a social services organization called Keystone Human Services before her arrest, also appears to have filmed and then shared a video of someone lifting a laptop off a desk in Pelosi’s office. Underneath the post she allegedly shared on the social media site Discord, she wrote: “STOLE S*** FROM NANCY POLESI.” There were a number of other posts, riddled with typographical errors, the court documents say authorities have linked to Williams. One read: "I TOOK HER GRAVEL HAMMWR TBING." Another read: "I DOMT CARE I TOOK NANCY POLESIS HARD DRIVES I DONT CARE KILL ME." The FBI and charging documents did not provide any additional information on the whereabouts of the Pelosi laptop -- which, according to the speaker’s office, was only used for presentations. Court documents say Williams’ mother told authorities that her daughter had taken a sudden interest in President Trump’s politics and “far right message boards.” In a video obtained by the investigative research group Bellingcat, Riley is purportedly seen giving a Nazi salute while wearing baseball cap embossed with the Nazi black sun symbol. The video is believed to have been shot and posted sometime in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack. Williams' lawyer says it was a joke intended to mock Nazis.

Case History

Williams pleaded Not Guilty to all charges. Jury trial held 11/7/2022-11/21/2022. Found guilty of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on two other charges. Sentenced on 3/23/2023 to 36 months of incarceration; 36 months of supervised release; Community service of 150 hours; Restitution of $2,000; special assessment of $270. Williams 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.