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(WASHINGTON) — Moments before a convicted Jan. 6 rioter was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday, he sought a full pardon by claiming that Donald Trump’s victory on Election Day vindicated his actions.

Zachary Alam told the court that he wanted a new classification of pardon, which he called a “full pardon of patriotism,” for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. That would come with monetary compensation, expungement of the charges from his criminal record and the assurance that he would never again be charged for his crimes.

Alam seemed to characterize anything less as a “second-class pardon” and implied that he would not accept it.

Although Alam did not deny his actions during the riot on the Capitol, stating, “I will 100% admit my actions were not lawful on January 6,” he also justified them by saying he was doing the right thing to protect democracy.

“True patriots do the right thing in spite of everything else,“ he claimed, adding that his fellow rioters had “fought, cried, bled and died for what is right.”

“Trump wasn’t lying,” Alam said in court, emphasizing that the American people voted for him “four years later.”

Judge Dabney Friedrich described Alam’s actions as a “full-throated” attack on the Constitution and “not the acts of a patriot.”

She called Alam one of the “most violent and aggressive” rioters that day, noting that Capitol Police officers also described him as the loudest among them.

At his trial, law enforcement officials recalled him repeatedly telling them, “I’m going to f— you up.”

Lawyers for the Justice Department, meanwhile, noted that Alam stood out on Jan. 6 “because of his actions.”

Those included knocking out the glass door of the Speaker’s Lobby and pushing up against three Capitol Police officers who were trying to keep the mob from entering the floor of the House of Representatives.

He scaled four floors of the Capitol, kicked doors and threw a velvet rope over a balcony in an attempt to hit officers below.

In the courtroom, the Justice Department asserted, “There are consequences to taking law into your own hands.”

Leaving the Capitol after Ashli Babbitt was shot, Alam shouted to fellow rioters that they “need guns.”

He then fled and tried to conceal his identity.

He was arrested about a month later.

Alam also claimed in court that the Justice Department coerced defendants into taking plea deals — an argument the judge dismissed on Thursday.

He asked if the insurgence on Jan. 6 had truly threatened democracy, observing in court that the American people had reelected Trump just 48 hours prior.

“Sometimes you have to break the rules to do the right thing,” he said.

Alam’s attorney Steven Metcalf argued that his client should serve five years in prison, including the nearly four years he had already served, along with time in a halfway house.

Metcalf noted that his client had no friends and had been in and out of solitary confinement, both for his behavior and concerns about his safety.

The attorney said in court that some people are not going to change their beliefs, but conceded that Alam “can’t choose to take things in his own hands.”

He emphasized the need for rehabilitation to help people like his client.

Alam’s attorney depicted him as a defendant who lacked a support system. At the time of the Jan. 6 riot, he was living inside a storage unit and was not close with his family, according to Metcalf. His parents never appeared in court.

He asserted that Capitol Police officers were not traumatized by Alam specifically, arguing that they were not physically hurt by him or his direct actions.

The judge challenged Metcalf’s argument, emphasizing that the Capitol Police officers stationed in the Speaker’s Lobby were the “last stand” between rioters and lawmakers.

She said Alam’s actions contributed to the trauma that those officers faced on Jan 6.

Alam said that he was willing to undergo rehabilitation, but the judge — citing his lack of remorse — instead sentenced him to over eight years in prison and three years of supervised release.

ABC News’ T. Michelle Murphy contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

In a statement on Monday, Trump praised Lee’s background as a lawyer and said he’s known the former New York congressman for a long time.

“He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump said. “He will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance, that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way.”

Zeldin confirmed he had been offered the job in a social media post.

“It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” Zeldin wrote on X. “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”

Zeldin represented Long Island’s Suffolk County in the House of Representatives for eight years. He ran for governor against Democrat Kathy Hochul in 2022, earning Trump’s endorsement but falling short of Hochul by 6 points.

Zeldin previously criticized the Biden-Harris administration for canceling a key permit needed for the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline and rejoining the Paris climate agreement after Trump withdrew. During his gubernatorial bid, he wanted to reverse New York state’s ban on hydraulic fracking.

Zeldin will need to be confirmed by the Senate to lead the EPA.

Trump’s pick of Zeldin comes less than a week after Election Day and as Trump’s new administration begins to take shape.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris, in an appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, slammed Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders recently suggesting the presidential candidate isn’t humble because she doesn’t have biological children.

Speaking to “Call Her Daddy” host Alex Cooper, who asked about Huckabee Sanders’ remark, “My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble,” Harris suggested the governor is caught in the past.

“I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, are not aspiring to be humble, two, a whole lot of women out here who have a lot of love in their life, family in their life, and children in their life,” Harris told Cooper on “Call Her Daddy,” which Spotify says is the most-listened-to podcast by women. “And I think it’s really important for women to lift each other up.”

Harris, who is stepmother to two now-adult children from her marriage to second gentleman Doug Emhoff, said family comes in many forms.

“We have our family by blood, and then we have our family by love, and I have both, and I consider it to be a real blessing,” she said. “And I have two beautiful children, Cole and Ella, who call me Momala. We have a very modern family. My husband’s ex-wife is a friend of mine.”

She continued, “Family comes in many forms and I think that increasingly, all of us understand that this is not the 1950’s anymore. Families come in all shapes or forms and they are family nonetheless.”

During the 40-minute interview, Cooper also asked Harris about Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, having previously complained he didn’t want the country run by “childless cat ladies.”

“I just think it’s mean and mean-spirited,” Harris told Cooper. “And I think that most Americans want leaders who understand that the measure of their strength is not based on who you beat down; the real measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.”

Harris spent much of the interview discussing abortion rights and what statewide abortion bans can mean for people living in those states — including mothers, who may need to arrange childcare and travel out of state for the procedure.

“Let’s talk about how it affects a real person. The majority of women who receive abortion care are mothers,” Harris said. “So imagine she’s in a state with an abortion ban — one out of three women are, by the way, in our country — and she’s a mom. She’s going to have to figure out, one, God help her if she has affordable childcare, God help her if she has paid leave, and then she’s going to have to go to the airport, stand in a TSA line, sit on a plane next to a perfect stranger, to go to a city where she’s never been to receive the care she needs … and that’s all if they can even afford a plane or a bus ticket.”

Harris made her appeal to listeners who might not personally believe in abortion, emphasizing that women should have the right to choose for themselves.

“You don’t have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that government shouldn’t be telling her what to do. If she chooses, she’ll talk to her priest, her pastor, her rabbi or Imam, but not the government telling you what to do,” Harris said. “And that’s what’s so outrageous about it, is a bunch of these guys up in these state capitals are writing these decisions because they somehow have decided that they’re in a better position to tell you what’s in your best interest than you are to know what’s in your own best interest.”

She continued: “This is not about imposing my thoughts on you in terms of what you do with your life or your body. … It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s saying the government shouldn’t be telling people what to do.”

She also hit back against Trump’s false claim at last month’s presidential debate that some states allow post-birth abortions.

“That is not happening anywhere in the United States. It is not happening, and it’s a lie — it’s a bald-faced lie that he is suggesting,” she said. “Can you imagine, can you imagine — he’s suggesting that women in their ninth month of pregnancy are electing to have an abortion. Are you kidding? That is so outrageously inaccurate, and it’s so insulting to suggest that that would be happening and that women would be doing that. It’s not happening anywhere. This guy is full of lies.”

Harris railed against Trump’s baseless claims about abortion, calling him “careless and irresponsible and reckless.”

Asked by Cooper how she was feeling in the last few weeks of the campaign, Harris said she was feeling both “great” and “nervous.”

“You know, there’s this old adage: there are only two ways to run: without an opponent or scared. So there you go,” Harris said. “The only thing that matters is really just spending as much time as I can, as much time as I possibly can, meeting with people and talking with them about the stakes and their future.”

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