"Bullhorn Lady" Rachel Powell released from prison after January 6 pardons from President Trump
WASHINGTON (KDKA) - She's a Mercer County mother of eight and one of nearly 1,600 January 6 protesters pardoned by President Trump.
Today, Rachel Powell was released from a Washington D.C. correctional facility after serving one year of a five-year sentence.
After three years of house arrest and more than a year in prison, Rachel Powell is now a free woman under President Trump's sweeping pardon of most every January 6 defendant.
Powell told a crush of reporters she owes the new president a debt of gratitude.
"He's a bigger blessing to me than he can ever imagine," she said. "He brought my family back together and I'm indebted. Thank you, President Trump."
On that day four years ago, she became known as "Pink Hat Lady", one of several using a cardboard pipe as a battering ram to break a window at the Capitol. Others called her the "Bullhorn Lady" who gave instructions to rioters inside, saying things such as "you can drop down to a room underneath it."
Federal prosecutors said she used a pick axe to break another window inside and directed rioters to take the building.
Today, wearing a pink Trump inaugural baseball cap, she said she was only looking forward to getting back to being a mom.
"I promised my 8-year-old girl that I would get her a pony," she said. "Some relatives are like, 'Why did you promise her a pony?' Why wouldn't I promise her a pony?"
Arrested in February 2021, she was initially released from the Butler County Prison but the court gave custody of her eight children to her estranged husbands and then confined her to house arrest in Sandy Lake, Mercer County, where she waited three years for trial.
Convicted of three felonies and six misdemeanors, she was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. She spent a year in federal prison in West Virginia and was awaiting resentencing in Washington D.C. when Mr. Trump pardoned her and the others last night.
"Thank god for sparing his life," she said. "I do believe god did spare President Trump's life because we do need to make America great again."
Her incarceration did lead to some reflection. She said she regrets the violence of the day, saying she wishes it had been a peaceful protest and doesn't absolve herself of her part in it.
"I feel like a fool because I walked into something unexpected," she said. "That doesn't excuse my behavior that day, but I can't go back. I can only go forward. Let's go forward as a country and heal."
What comes next for Powell
Powell said that she is staying the night in Washington D.C. and plans to go back to Mercer County on Wednesday.
"We watched the whole inauguration from beginning to end," Powell said. "We never had any doubts. It was just when is it going to happen, how is it going to come about?"
Watch: Jen Borrasso Reports
"At first, it was just tears, I don't know if it was sorrow or what it was, it was emotional coming out of that jail," she said. "It's been four years of hell for my family and it was finally over."
After her release on Tuesday afternoon, Powell was met by January 6 activists outside of the D.C. jail.
"They gave me a hat, they put a sweatshirt on me, shoes, scarves, gloves, and hand warmers," Powell said.
Powell talked to her 21-year-old daughter Adah when she got out and the plan is for them to reunite tomorrow, and only KDKA-TV was there to witness the conversation.
"It's definitely been a little rough without the mom the mom is the glue," Adah said. "So without her here it's been rough. It hasn't been great but we made due."
Since Powell's arrest, conviction, and sentencing, she said her family has had to sell their house and her car.
"We have to decide where are we going to live, how am I going to make money, what trauma is there to my family and how do we heal that," Powell said. "It's a lot to rebuild. So I don't have all the answers."
Adah and two of her sisters have been looking after their younger siblings. Powell said she's not sure how she's getting home just yet but she's hoping to put all this behind her.
