Infowars host Owen Shroyer asks for money before turning himself in on 6 January riot charges

The host has raised nearly $175,000 for his legal defence

Owen Shroyer, a host on the conspiracy-peddling, far-right network Infowars, asked his viewers for money during a final broadcast on Sunday night, before turning himself in to authorities on charges he participated in the 6 January riot at the US Capitol.

Mr Shroyer, perhaps the most high-profile figure arrested in connection with the attack so far, told his audience he faced an “uncertain future” after being charged on Thursday with disorderly conduct and illegally entering a restricted area on the Capitol grounds.

“Help fund my legal defence. DefendOwen.com,” he said. “And if I can speak with you tomorrow, if I have my free speech tomorrow and I’m a free man tomorrow, I promise I will be back.”

The host has already raised nearly $175,000 on Give Send Go, a company which claims it’s the “#1 Free Christian Crowdfunding site.”

Mr Shroyer denied any wrongdoing in a video posted to Infowars on Sunday.

“I am an innocent man,” he said. “The claims that they’re making are just completely untrue.”

Later in the video, Mr Shroyer falsely claims “the feds” made up the fact that pro-Trump demonstrators committed the attack on the Capitol, calling it “The Big Lie”, the moniker many have used for the conspiracy that Joe Biden stole the election.

He also claims he never entered the Capitol building or bypassed any security barricades, and that he and his crew tried to stop the violence at the Capitol.

Court documents tell another story.

“Today we march for the Capitol because on this historic January 6, 2021, we have to let our Congressmen and women know, and we have to let Mike Pence know, they stole the election,” he told a crowd of Trump supporters on 6 January as they headed to the Capitol. “We know they stole it, and we aren’t going to accept it!”

A day before, he gave a speech near the White House about how “Americans are ready to fight” to challenge the 2020 election results, as they would a day later.

“We’re not exactly sure what that’s going to look like … if we can’t stop this certification of the fraudulent election,” he said. “We are the new revolution! We are going to restore and we are going to save the republic!”

Throughout the election, Mr Shroyer and his more famous Infowars counterpart, Alex Jones, spread falsehoods about the election, and helped organise protests of the results.

Nearly 600 people have been charged with federal crimes relating to the Capitol riot.

The Independent has reached to Mr Shroyer’s lawyer, Norman Pattis, for comment.