By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTROOM, Dec 16 - In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on October 28, Joshua Hall pleaded guilty to calling the office of US Rep. Eric Swalwell, drunk, and making a threat. Inner City Press was there for the plea, before SDNY Judge Gregory H. Woods, as it had been for Hall's previous proceedings for impersonating members of former President Trump's family.
On October 29, Hall allocuted that when he got out of a detox in Yonkers on August 29, 2022, he went on conservative social media. "Someone had posted the office number of Congressman Eric Swalwell and I called it."
He was asked if he made a threat. He guessed he did; he had been drunk.
On October 29 he was in an orange Westchester County DOC prison jumpsuit. He told Judge Woods he previously worked in hospitality, at Econolodge and then Best Western Plus. As he was led from the courtroom by US Marshals, he had a smile that seemed stoic.
After the proceeding, it was announced that "On a telephone call with Staff Member-1 and Staff Member-2, HALL stated, in substance and in part, that he had a lot of AR-15s; that he wanted to shoot the Congressman; that he intended to come to the Congressman’s office with firearms; and that if he saw the Congressman, he would kill him. He further stated, in substance and in part, that he wanted to 'beat the shit out of' the Congressman."
For the previous charges and this one, Hall is now set to be sentenced on December 8, with a (combined) sentencing guideline of 27 to 33 months. His Federal Defender Clay Kaminsky said no additional time was needed as the existing Pre-Sentencing Report already to some degree addresses this conduct (that is, the drunk threatening call). The PSR, of course, is not public. But the plea agreement is, now on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
Hall asked, in the run up to sentencing, for six months imprisonment, six months impatient. The US Attorney's Office asked for 27 months - and submitted a victim's impact statement, with the name redacted, asking for no mercy and the maximum sentence.
The case is US v. Hall, 21-cr-605 (Woods).
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