Pro-Trump protesters inside the US Capitol building
Pro-Trump protesters inside the US Capitol buildingReuters/Michael Nigro/Sipa USA

A US military veteran who allegedly told an undercover FBI agent he wanted to “wipe out” the American Jewish community was found guilty on Tuesday of obstruction for participating in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The trial of Hatchet Speed, a former US Naval reservist who was assigned to a spy satellite agency, was adjudicated as a non-jury trial by US District Judge Trevor McFadden, who will sentence Speed on May 8, the Associated Press reported.

Speed was found guilty of all five charges in the case. The felony obstruction charge stemmed from his role in storming the Capitol to prevent the January 6 Congressional certification of the Electoral College vote making Joe Biden the president.

The FBI’s undercover agent captured conversations with Speed that occurred over a year after the Jan. 6 riot, in which the defendant told the agent that he had marched on the Capitol with the far-right Proud Boys group, according to the prosecution.

In the conversations, Speed, 41, also made anti-government remarks laced with antisemitism, which prosecutors told the judge explained why he joined the march on the Capitol.

Besides stating that he believed the 2020 election had been stolen by Joe Biden, prosecutors said that he also spoke of his admiration for Hitler and claimed that Biden was controlled by Jews.

“Speed saw the Jews as `everywhere,' fighting to destroy Christians, and he was not willing to sit by,” prosecutors wrote in a court document.

Speed was arrested on June 22 on misdemeanor charges related to Jan. 6. He was subsequently indicted by a jury on felony obstruction charges.

The undercover FBI agent spoke with Speed three or more times in March and April 2022.

“Speed wanted to stop that certification. He left the U.S. Capitol only because he believed he succeeded in that effort,” prosecutors wrote.

The conversations also included Speed speaking about a plan “to enlist Christians to wipe out the country's entire Jewish population.”

“To defeat the Jewish threat and topple the government, Speed told the (agent) that a violent response was necessary – and that the Jews stood in the way,” prosecutors said.

The judge said that Speed’s “own words show the defendant's actions were knowing and willful.”