text: 'Bullhorn lady,' from Pennsylvania, appears before a judge
  'Bullhorn lady,' from Pennsylvania, put on house arrest by D.C. judge
  The degree of leadership that Rachel Marie Powell showed during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol became a point of debate in a D.C. courtroom today, as a judge weighed whether the Pennsylvania woman should be released from prison.
  Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell decided that Powell, known as the "bullhorn lady" for the megaphone she carried at the U.S. Capitol that day, would be released from prison and put on house arrest.
  But before doing so, the judge contrasted Powell with two members of the Proud Boys, a far-right nationalist organization, also charged for involvement in the insurrection. Howell believed the Proud Boys' actions before and during that day showed intent to lead others: planning their actions in D.C. and movement to the U.S. Capitol that day and spray-painting of "Murder the media" within the Capitol.
  Powell carried a bullhorn at the Capitol and is alleged to have ordered other rioters how to navigate part of the Capitol. She used a long pipe - with other rioters - to break a window at the federal building, and the prosecutor argued that Powell was instructing fellow insurrectionists to break a second window as well.
  "It's hard to tell in a mob which one was leading the other in an effort to disrupt the constitutional process," Judge Howell said. "I do look at equitable treatment of these defendants in trying to figure out levels of dangerousness. One could say that every person on those steps was a danger to democracy."
  Powell is a mother of eight from rural Sandy Lake in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. She was recognized in videos and photographs of the rioting wearing a pink hat, ramming a pole into the Capitol building and using a bullhorn to issue orders.
  Charges against Powell are: obstruction, which makes it a crime to obstruct, influence or impede official proceedings; depredation of government property; restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon; restricted building or grounds; violent entry or disorderly conduct.
  Journalist Ronan Farrow interviewed Powell for a story published in The New Yorker Feb. 2, in which she admitted to her involvement in the rioting.
  That article was brought up a number of times during the hearing, in which the judge was able to read how Powell viewed the incident on Jan. 6.
  "She doesn't even seem to understand the gravity of her actions and her offense," Judge Howell said, adding that Powell "enthusiastically participated in the assault on the Capitol."
  In the FBI's criminal complaint, Powell is connected to a scene videotaped inside the Capitol Jan. 6 in which a group of people were "discussing how to further penetrate the Capitol building."
  "One individual is heard asking, 'What's the floor plan.' Another man with a helmet is heard shouting, 'We just need a plan. We need enough people. We need to push forward,'" the arrest documents state.
  "Shortly after, Rachel Powell is clearly seen speaking through a bullhorn and giving very detailed instructions about the layout of the Capitol building to others inside the room. She can be heard stating that she had just been inside the Capitol building in the adjacent room, and that they should 'coordinate together if you are going to take this building,'" FBI documents state.
  She has firearms in her home, but the location of those guns are not known. Her attorney, Michael Engle, said he told her to give those to a friend, from whom the FBI could retrieve them. She wouldn't be allowed to have those firearms as a condition of her release.
  More:Two PA residents, part of a bus ride to see Trump rally, charged with entering Capitol
  The FBI conducted a search of her home Feb. 4 and arrested her later in the day. She is now among 15 Pennsylvania residents arrested for charges related to the attack on the Capitol building.