Adam C. Johnson

Adam Christian Johnson, also known as "Podium Guy", "Lectern Guy", and "Via Getty", (born 1984 or 1985) is an American man who took part in the United States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. A photograph of Johnson carrying then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lectern became a prominent image of the attack.

On February 25, 2022, he was convicted of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and was sentenced to 75 days of incarceration with a $5,000 fine.

On January 20, 2025, the first day of the second presidency of Donald Trump, Johnson was pardoned along with nearly every other participant in the Capitol riot.

Early life, career and politics Johnson was born in Millington, Tennessee, lived most of his life in Southwest Florida and attended the University of South Florida. In his late teens and early 20s, he was arrested on two separate misdemeanor marijuana charges by Manatee County police. He violated probation in 2005 by failing to submit needed supervision reports. but did not vote in the 2016 election. He asked a woman to take pictures of him standing in front of the podium, then left the lectern in the middle of the room.

The location of the lectern was not immediately known following the attack. The federal warrant for Johnson's arrest stated that "on or about January 7, 2021, the lectern was found by a member of the Senate staff in the Red corridor of the Senate wing off the Rotunda in the Capitol building," and that "according to the House of Representatives' curator, the Speaker's lectern has a market value of more than $1,000." The lectern would later be placed in the Capitol's Rayburn Room on January 13 for an engrossment ceremony of the House impeachment resolution.

Federal prosecutors initially asked for a 90-day sentence. On November 22, 2021, Johnson reached a plea agreement and pleaded guilty in federal court to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and prosecutors dismissed his charges of theft of government property and of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. The plea deal also included an agreement on a potential book or "something of that nature" that would be published by Johnson, which gave the government rights to any profit that Johnson acquired as a result of that product for five years. During Johnson's trial, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton recommended he read the books How Civil Wars Start and The Next Civil War. On February 25, 2022, Johnson was sentenced to 75 days in prison with a year of supervised release and 200 hours of community service, and he was ordered to pay a $5,525 fine.

On January 20, 2025, the first day of the second presidency of Donald Trump, Johnson was pardoned along with nearly every other participant in the Capitol attack.

Run for office On January 6, 2026—the fifth anniversary of the Capitol attack—Johnson filed to run for a seat on the Manatee County Commission. His campaign logo was an outline of the photograph of him carrying Nancy Pelosi's podium.

In popular culture Actor and political artist Jim Carrey created a portrait of Johnson following the attack, entitled #fuckedforlife. John Krasinski mimicked Johnson carrying the lectern in an episode of Saturday Night Live.

Personal life Johnson was a stay-at-home father of five boys, and is married to a medical doctor, his second wife. At the time of the Capitol attack, he was 36 and lived in Manatee County, Florida. He went to a Baptist church.