WASHINGTON — A Pennsylvania mother who was known as "Bullhorn Lady" because she used a bullhorn to instruct rioters at the U.S. Capitol was convicted Tuesday of nine federal counts.
Rachel Powell was found guilty on a variety of charges, including felony counts of interfering with officers performing their duties and obstruction of an official proceeding. Her bench trial was held in May, and U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth delivered the verdict Tuesday.
Powell was accompanied to court by her children, one of whom was wearing a red "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" hat in the courtroom. Powell had posted on social media that former President Donald Trump had given her child a MAGA hat.
Powell's identity was discovered by online "Sedition Hunters" who have since identified hundreds of additional Capitol rioters, and her identity was publicly revealed in a February 2021 article in The New Yorker. Powell, who was also known as "Pink Hat Lady," was arrested days later.
In one video, as rioters entered a conference room on the west side of the Capitol, Powell gave a description of the layout of an adjourning room and said they should “coordinate together if you are going to take this building.” Her comments initially led investigators to think she had some kind of insider knowledge of the Capitol.
