ARLINGTON — A federal judge sentenced a Proud Boy from Arlington to five years Tuesday for assaulting a federal officer as he breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Daniel Lyons Scott, nicknamed “Milkshake,” was named by federal agents as a prominent member of the far-right group that made the push to storm Congress, according to court records. He was one of the first to breach the Capitol, prosecutors wrote, citing a review of Parler and YouTube video footage reported by The Daily Herald.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth gave Scott five years for assaulting a federal officer and obstruction of the official proceeding.
According to Politico, as of May 2023, more than 1,000 suspects have been charged with federal crimes for their roles in the attempted coup. Over 480 defendants have received sentences, with over 275 of those receiving time behind bars.
Scott is a former Boeing employee from Snohomish County. In the years leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, he was a mainstay at Proud Boy events around the Pacific Northwest, wearing the Proud Boys’ name in bright yellow on a black tactical vest. The group’s name was tattooed on his left arm.
The Proud Boys are considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group gained a massive boost of notoriety when former President Donald Trump told the Proud Boys in the lead-up to the 2020 election, “Stand back and stand by.”
Leading up to Jan. 6, Scott used the encrypted messaging app Telegram to discuss with other Proud Boys what they wanted to do, according to court documents.
“I’ll see you (expletive) in D.C.,” Scott wrote on Nov. 30, 2020. “I’m going for the smashing of wypipo who call themselves Jewish which control the left commie idea and push it for the destruction of our great nation… they get the smoke first.”
A day before the riot, Scott and his co-defendant, Christopher Worrell, traveled to D.C. as part of a larger group of Proud Boys based in Southwest Florida, prosecutors wrote. Worrell took a picture of Scott, a large bearded man wearing a bulletproof vest under an olive green jacket, ski goggles and a blue baseball hat with the words “God Guns & Trump,” on the Capitol grounds the morning of Jan. 6.
Daniel Scott (center) before the storming of the Capitol building Jan. 6 in Washington D.C. (screenshot)
Evidence from Worrell’s criminal trial, including pictures and videos captured during the attack, show Scott and his group rallying on the east side of the Capitol building. Scott was depicted yelling in the background: “Let’s take the (expletive) Capitol!”
“Let’s not (expletive) yell that, OK?” a Proud Boy responded.
Another member of the group, Ethan “Rufio” Nordean, of Auburn, spoke into a megaphone.
“It was Milkshake, man,” he said. “Idiot.”
Images show Scott that day at the “front lines,” of the initial breach of the Capitol grounds. Scott is seen positioned directly in front of two Capitol Police officers, Nathan Cole and Cameron Cetrone.
In a video, Scott is seen suddenly moving forward, “single-handedly” pushing the two officers backwards and up the stairs, prosecutors wrote.
Scott then grabbed Cetrone, pulling his head and torso into the ground before letting go, according to court documents. Worrell later said in a jail call that he saw Scott “body-slam” an officer during the assault.
The officers retreated. Scott retreated as well, back into the crowd.
Afterward, hundreds of rioters behind Scott immediately surged up the stairs, according to court records. The group became the first people to enter the U.S. Capitol building that day, while Congress was still in session certifying the electoral college count.
Scott was filmed celebrating to the left of the crowd.
“Proud of your (expletive) boy!” he yelled to other Proud Boys.
“Yeah! Taking the Capitol!” Worrell replied.
After breaching the police line, Scott, Worrell and other Proud Boy members left the Capitol grounds. There was no record of them actually entering the building.
In the following days, Scott made a “challenge coin” to celebrate the breach of the building, featuring a noose, guillotine and flames surrounding the Capitol, according to prosecutors.
The prosecution of the Capitol rioters has grown into one of the most expansive criminal cases in U.S. history. In Snohomish County, Tucker Weston and Jesse Watson, a pair of Lynnwood roommates, face a number of charges for the breach of the Capitol building.
Five deaths were directly linked to the events of Jan. 6. One person was shot by Capitol police, another was trampled and died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including officer Brian Sicknick. Four other officers who responded to the riots later killed themselves.
In interviews with federal agents, Scott said he only “touched” the officers before moving back into the crowd. He also said the whole event was a “blur” and he couldn’t recall what happened.
Scott later claimed he “didn’t realize there was even a process to certify the election on that day.”
But in a conversation on Telegram with Scott and other Proud Boys two days before Jan. 6, a user said: “You know, if Congress is blocked from the joint session on the 6th, they don’t certify the election and trump stays. Would be shame if protest kept them from doing that.”
Scott had a presence elsewhere on social media leading up to the 2020 election. He streamed videos, some of which were filmed with other Proud Boy members from Florida, where Scott had apparently relocated. In November 2020, social media posts appeared to show Scott confronting Black Lives Matter protesters in Florida.
Scott also hosted a YouTube channel called, “Milkshake Happy Hour.”
“Imagine being a D.C. cop and having to defend commies in America,” he said in a video streamed on Dec. 19, 2020, while drinking Bud Lights alongside a man in a hooded sweatshirt reading: “PB Stand Back Stand by.”
Federal prosecutors accused Scott of nine crimes in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In February, Scott pleaded guilty to two of them: obstruction of the official proceeding and assaulting a federal officer.
Prosecutors recommended a sentence of five years, noting the “extensive planning and scope” of his actions, and how he used his “imposing” physical presence to help breach the Capitol. Scott is 6-foot-5 and weighs over 300 pounds.
“But for Scott’s actions, it is not even clear that rioters would have breached the west front police line that day, much less ascended the stairs to enter the building through the Senate Wing Door,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves wrote.
Scott’s attorney, Nathan Silver, wrote that Scott’s involvement with the Proud Boys was mostly as a member of a social club where “like-minded men would get together, drink and pop off about their mostly congruent political views.” In an April email to his attorney, Scott wrote the organization is “the complete opposite of organized.”
“I guess that’s the downfall in a Men only club,” he continued.
In the defendant’s experience, there was a great deal of “bluffing,” but no follow through, his lawyers wrote. But the group had one mission that day, to “oppose agitators and troublemakers from Antifa and other far-left organizations.”
To Scott, it was more about blowing off steam than part of an effort to overturn the election, according to his lawyer.
Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.
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