QUITE A DEAL

Jan. 6 Rioter Helped Attack Cops—and Pleaded to Misdemeanors

George Tanios took part in the chemical-spray assault on officers, including Brian Sicknick, who later died.

A Jan. 6 rioter charged in an attack on Capitol police officers—including one who later died—cut a deal with federal prosecutors and pleaded guilty to just two misdemeanors on Wednesday.

George Tanios, a West Virginia sandwich shop owner, likely faces no more than six months in prison for supplying the chemicals used to spray cops. His co-defendant, Julian Elie Khater, who is charged with doing the actual spraying, is weighing a plea deal that with out carry significantly more time.

Tanios, 40, was originally charged with felonies including assault and rioting for his role in spraying the three cops and storming the Capitol to block certification of the 2020 election.

Specifically, Tanios was accused of purchasing and carrying a canister that Khater used to spray and incapacitate Capitol officers Brian Sicknick and Caroline Edwards, and a D.C. police officer identified as B. Chapman.

“Give me that bear shit,” Khater told Tanios on a 2:14 p.m. video at the Capitol's Lower West Terrace as officers stood behind metal bicycle racks, according to court documents.

“Hold on, hold on, not yet, not yet … it’s still early,” Tanios replied, before Khater was then seen with a spray can.

“This verbal exchange between Khater and Tanios, together with Khater’s retrieval of the spray can from Tanios, reveals that the two were working in concert and had a plan to use the toxic spray against law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote in the criminal complaint.

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Sicknick, who held back rioters on the Capitol’s west terrace, later collapsed and died the next day of natural causes, according to officials. The officer suffered two strokes the day after the riots—and there was no evidence he suffered an allergic reaction to any chemical irritants or internal or external injuries, according to an autopsy report from the medical examiner.

Tanios and Khater were never charged with causing his death. On Wednesday, Tanios pleaded guilty to trespassing and disorderly conduct on restricted Capitol grounds.

More than 840 suspects have faced charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Tanios was arrested in March 2021 after law enforcement received tips from Facebookers with photos that resembled him at the Capitol.

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Asta HemenwayFormer Politics Reporting Fellow

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