Jan. 6 Pardons Not Sufficient, Toms River Man Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man who pleaded guilty last year to charges in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is among those who have been pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Robert Coppotelli, who was identified in photos because he was wearing his company's jacket, says pardons for the 1,500 defendants in the attack are not sufficient, however.

"Every single Jan. 6er deserves full expungements across the board," Coppotelli said at a news conference he called on Jan. 10 on the steps of the federal courthouse in Newark. Coppotelli insists protesters were invited into the Capitol building "with open arms" that day, only to be arrested later, calling it entrapment and a violation of civil liberties.

"There should be checks and restitution and public apologies written in the newspaper for the atrocities committed on Jan. 6," Coppotelli said.

Coppotelli, 28, had pleaded guilty in September to being disorderly and disruptive in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, NJ.com reported. He was sentenced in December to probation and a $600 fine.

Coppotelli, who distributed a 12-minute video of his remarks to news outlets, insisted he and others were invited inside the Capitol and that they were not there at the urging of Trump.

He called Jan. 6 "one of the greatest travesties perpetrated on the American people" and said he was speaking out in spite of being told he would be arrested for speaking out after the sentencing.

"I remember Capitol police rounding up a crowd of protesters," he said and accused them of agitating the protesters before welcoming them into the building. Coppotelli said he was told by someone on the Capitol grounds to stay out of the building and that protesters were being let into the Capitol just to arrest them.

"I had nothing to hide, I knew I was doing nothing wrong," he said of wearing his company jacket into the Capitol.

He blasted the media, saying they slandered him. "I read things in newspapers about myself I never even knew before. They called me a domestic terrorist, an insurrectionist and a plethora of other things. "

"I've never known a domestic terrorist to show up to the children's hospital on Christmas morning with a 20-foot box truck full of gifts so they wouldn't know what it's like go without. I've never known a domestic terrorist to feed children during a pandemic because their parents couldn't afford to feed them," Coppotelli said.

"I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of business, I received death threats in the mail," Coppotelli said. He said the website of his shirt company, Proud To Be clothing company, was hacked multiple times after he was arrested.

"I pled guilty because in essence everything they said about me was true," Coppotelli said. "They left out the part where they invited me into the building. If singing 'God Bless America' or the national anthem is parading picketing or disorderly conduct then burn me at the stake."

"I was no altar boy on Jan. 6," Coppotelli said. "Yes I yelled things. Yes I screamed things. I was pissed off. The presidency was just stolen from the sitting president, the American people's voice was just silenced and Mike Pence lacked the courage to do the right thing."

"That does not negate the fact that when I neared the building on Jan. 6, the doors were wide open and we were invited into the building," he said.