he came prepared for conflict and he had numerous chances to turn back and not participate in the riot crowd. plus prosecutors wanted this sentence to set a precedent. so they told the judge that it would send a loud and clear message to other would-be rioters that if and when they are caught, they would be held accountable. and people who might be contemplating a sequel to january 6 will stand down and there won t be a next time. but the judge struck a middle ground saying that he was staking a claim on the floor of the united states senate not with the american flag but with the flag declaring his loyalty to a single individual over the entire nation. but i don t consider him to be a threat or see him as an evil person. hodgkin s spoke on his own behalf for ten minutes. he acknowledged that joe biden is the rightful president and he said that he had only come to d.c. with the intention of supporting a president he loves which was of course ex-president donald trump. there are still m
defendant in the one six insurrection. he got eight months in prison and they wanted florida man paul hodgkin s sentenced to 18 months. images from that day shown clearly carried in trump 2020 played inside the evacuated senate chamber. hodgkin s pleaded guilty last month with a single official proceeding. also tonight, senate majority leader chuck schumer is moving forward with and wednesday vote to start debate at least on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. measures are still being written as we speak. senate democrats are also not giving up on federal voting rights bill. the rules committee led by senator amy klobuchar, democrat of minnesota, is holding the u.s. senate s first field hearings in two decades to try to bring voting rights issues to the public s attention. first stop, atlanta georgia where one witness described the obstacles the voting in georgia. this past year i had to go to extraordinary lengths to
remorseful for his part in the insurrection. prosecutors wanted a tougher sentence. jessica schneider has the details. reporter: this could be a bellwether case for the hundreds of other defendants who were charged in connection to the capitol attack especially those who don t have criminal records and who weren t violent or tee struck difference that day. paul hodge kins who pleaded guilty to one count, he will serve eight months in prison and 24 months supervised release and plus pay $2,000 in restitution going toward fixing the damage at the capitol. hodgkin s took a bus from tampa and stormed into the capitol on january 6 taking selfies on the senate floor and he carried a giant red trump 2020 flag and carried a bag with goggles, gloves and a rope. the judge in this case really wrestled with an appropriate sentence. the justice department prosecutors wanted hodge kenkin serve 18 months because they say
insurrection at the u.s. capitol. the first person charged with a felony was sentenced today. paul hodgkin s from florida breached the u.s. senate chamber carrying a trump campaign flag. not one of the more violent acts but still quite serious. the judge gave him eight months behind bars. prosecutors have asked for 18 months. hodgkin s told the court, quote, if i had any idea that the protests would have escalated the way it did, i would never have ventured further than the sidewalk. this was a foolish decision on my part. all right. that is it for me. chris jansing is picking up the next hour of msnbc reports. bc rs e a long, long norwegian winter. but eventually, with spring comes rebirth. everything begins anew. and many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other like-minded people. welcome back to the world.