Former Marco Rubio Intern's January 6 Trial Has Been Scheduled

A trial date has been set for Barbara Balmaseda, a former Florida International University student and Miami GOP strategist indicted on criminal charges for storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Balmaseda, a 24-year-old Miami Lakes native whose ties to high-profile Republican politicians and the far-right Proud Boys put her case in the national spotlight, was arrested in December 2023 on a handful of charges related to the insurrection, including corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding, knowingly entering and remaining in a restricted building, and engaging in disorderly conduct in a Capitol building with the intent to impede a session of Congress.

On May 22, a grand jury formally indicted her on all five charges. She pleaded not guilty the following month.

Prosecutors offered her a plea deal in September, which court records show she rejected on December 3. A week later, during a December 10 hearing, a judge officially scheduled her trial to commence on March 25, 2025 — roughly two months after president-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The trial date was set just days after NBC News aired an interview in which Trump vowed to pardon January 6 rioters, perhaps as soon as his first day in office. 

"I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases," Trump told Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, later adding, "But I’m going to be acting very quickly."

In March 2022, online sleuths zeroed in on Balmaseda (whom they dubbed #PinkGaiterPBG and #PinkPBGirl) after photos captured her inside the Capitol on January 6 wearing a black-and-pink gaiter and later alongside Proud Boys Gabriel Garcia and Ethan Nordean, both of whom have been convicted of charges in connection with the January 6 insurrection. (Garcia was recently sentenced to a year in prison for his actions during the insurrection and reported to the federal penitentiary in Coleman on December 10.)

Balmaseda, who helped organize Gov. Ron DeSantis' first gubernatorial campaign in 2018 and interned for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio from 2018 to 2019, created a Telegram group chat that included Garcia and other Miami-area Proud Boys in the months leading up to the attack on the Capitol, according to an FBI affidavit.

From November 2020 to January 2021, she sent roughly 900 messages in the chat, which she named "Barby's Security :)" for a time.

On the day of the insurrection, Balmaseda was captured on video climbing atop equipment staged in preparation for the presidential inauguration and later entering the Capitol with Garcia, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

"U.S. Capitol Police closed-circuit television captured Balmaseda entering the Capitol building via the Senate Wing door at approximately 2:16 p.m., just four minutes after rioters initially breached the building," the DOJ alleges.

Balmaseda's attorney, Nayib Hassan, has not responded to New Times' request for comment.