The Last installment in the NPR podcast series Embedded follows the case of Sergeant Joshua Abate, an active-duty Marine who joined the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2001.

NPR Pentagon Correspondent Tom Bowman and producer Lauren Hodges were both at the capitol reporting on the attack.

Bowman says the interest in this interview came out of a news report that said three active-duty marines were convicted of misdemeanor charges for going into the Pentagon on January 6.

“They got 279 hours of community service, one hour for every Marine killed in the Civil War. And when I was reading the story like that is really interesting. So, I reached out to one of the lawyers to talk with him. His name is Dave Daschle. He is a lawyer in Warrenton, Virginia. And he was representing Sergeant Joshua Abate and talked with him. And then he set us up with his client.”

Out of the three active-duty marines, only Abate spoke with Bowman and Hodges. Bowman says the only reason Abate says he agreed to speak, was because of his newborn daughter.

“He said, I don't want her, you know, 15 years from now to Google my name and all of a sudden this pops up. But, you know, I was convicted of a misdemeanor on January 6th. I was part of this mob. So, he said, “I want to tell my side of the story. And that's what we got from him.”

The latest in the Embedded series is available on the NPR App or wherever you get your podcasts.

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