For assaulting police officers during the US Capitol attack on January 6, a Donald Trump fan was sentenced to five years in jail, the toughest term yet handed down in the inquiry into the violence. 

In videos and photos, Robert Scott Palmer, 54, was seen throwing boards, a fire extinguisher, and other things at police outside the Capitol while wearing an American flag jacket with pro-Trump patches and a cap that stated “Florida for Trump”.  

He attempted to enter the Capitol, but was thwarted by security personnel who used pepper spray.

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He continued to throw objects at officers after that, until he was wounded by a rubber bullet. 

Palmer’s requests for leniency were denied by federal judge Tanya Chutkan, who cited his problematic childhood and a handwritten apology in which he said he and others were lured into attacking Congress by the previous president, whom he called “tyrannical” and “desperate to hold on to power”.

“I realize that we meaning Trump supporters had been lied to,” he wrote.

Prosecutors noted that even after his guilty plea on October 4, Palmer continued to justify his acts, claiming that police were the aggressors on a fundraising website that he created.

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“Palmer purposefully joined a large group of rioters with the specific intent of interfering with the nation’s electoral process,” the prosecutors told the court in a sentencing memo.

“Palmer’s violence was in pursuit of his political goal of subverting a democratic election and the peaceful transition of power.”

The previous maximum penalty in the Capitol incident was 41 months, which was imposed on two men accused of impeding an official proceeding but not of assaulting law enforcement. 

Over 700 people have been charged in connection with the incident, the majority of them have been charged with minor offences such as illegally entering the Capitol. 

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However, a number of people are facing allegations of assault and lethal weapons, as well as conspiracy, which could result in harsh penalties.