"I don’t think it’s fair, if that’s what you mean," Angeli said in an interview with Channel 5. "I think that they thought an example had to be made, and I don’t think they anticipated that example being a double-edged sword where they try to make an example out of me, but in the process they made clear to the American people that the justice system is not fair or balanced."
Angeli was among the crowd that breached the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, that disrupted the 2020 presidential election certification proceedings by lawmakers.
Angeli denied accusations of being a racist or white supremacist and claimed that he never hurt or threatened anybody that day.
In spite of this, Angeli said his sentence is longer than some of those who did threaten or assault officials and officers on January 6. He cited the lesser 28-month sentence of Cleveland Merideth, a man who arrived in Washington later on January 6 with an assault rifle and 2,500 rounds of ammunition and threatened US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Angeli initially faced up to 20 years in prison and a period of supervised release, but last September he pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding. Federal prosecutors asked the court during the hearing to sentence Angeli to 51 months in prison, three years of supervised release and a $2,000 fine.