A former mixed martial arts fighter pleaded guilty last week to obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting a Metropolitan Police Department officer during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
Scott Fairlamb, who also runs a martial arts gym in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, can be seen on video footage released by the U.S. Department of Justice shoving and punching a police officer during the Capitol insurrection and was reportedly among the first to storm the building.
Fairlamb, whose brother is a Secret Service agent who once led Michelle Obama’s security team, was identified after multiple people sent tips to the FBI, which led to his arrest in January. He was indicted in February on 12 federal criminal counts but pleaded not guilty on April 13. Senior U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled later that monththat Fairlamb would be held without bail pending the outcome of his trial.
During an April hearing, the judge also portrayed the former fighter as a danger to the community due to his violent criminal history, which includes several cases of assault. Fairlamb was also accused of threatening Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri in June 2020 by the Democrat herself before she was elected to her first term in Congress in November.
Prosecutors also claimed that Fairlamb was an adherent of the far-right QAnon conspiracy movement, citing an Instagram interaction with another user where Fairlamb allegedly wrote, “It’s go time. Q said this word for word.”
Fairlamb, who also agreed to cooperate with federal investigators and pay $2,000 in restitution for damage done to the Capitol, was among the first defendants convicted of assault against the police during the Capitol insurrection. Another defendant, Devlyn Thompson, pleaded guilty on Aug. 6 to one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers while using a dangerous weapon.
