The Texass man joined the US Capitol insurrection armed with a holstered pistol and threatened his own children to keep quiet about his role.
Guy Reffitt, 49, was found guilty in March on five felony counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding and interfering with police in a riot.
His sentence is the longest imposed on any of the US Capitol rioters.
Reffitt did not actually enter the Capitol with the horde of Trump insurrectionists who breached the complex as lawmakers met to certify Joe Biden's win in the November 2020 presidential election.
He retreated after an officer pepper sprayed him in the face, but video evidence showed Reffitt egging on the crowd and leading other rioters up a set of stairs outside the building.
Multiple videos Reffitt took on and after 1/6, in which he discussed planning and bragged about participating in the insurrection, were used in evidence against him.
Issuing a prison sentence of 7 yrs on Monday, US District Judge Dabney Friedrich said Reffitt's actions and statements were "frightening claims that border on delusional".
According to court papers, he had told fellow members of the militia that he planned to drag US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of the Capitol building by her ankles, "with her head hitting every step on the way down".
Reffitt was reported to the FBI by his son, Jackson, 18 at the time, who told investigators his father had threatened him.
"He said 'if you turn me in, you're a traitor," the younger Reffitt said at his father's trial earlier this year. "'And traitors get shot'".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62382492
