Federal judge says Al Gore 'was a man' about his election defeat, unlike Trump

• A federal judge on Monday said VP Al Gore "was a man" who accepted his election defeat.
• The comments came during a plea hearing of a January 6 Capitol riot defendant, CNN reported.

A federal judge overseeing a criminal case for one the rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6 swiped at former President Donald Trump for spreading falsehoods about the 2020 election and refusing to admit defeat, according to a CNN report.

During a plea hearing on Monday, DC District Judge Reggie Walton, a George W. Bush appointee, slammed Trump by pointing to the 2000 election between Bush and then-Vice President Al Gore, who narrowly lost the race after a contentious legal battle.

"Al Gore had a better case to argue than Mr. Trump, but he was a man about what happened to him," Walton said Monday, per CNN. "He accepted it and walked away."

The defendant Adam Johnson, a 36-year-old Florida man who was photographed carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lectern, pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building, according to CNN.

"What concerns me, sir, is that you were gullible enough to come to Washington, DC, from Florida based on a lie and the person who inspired you to do what you do is still making those statements, and my concern is that you are gullible enough to do it again," Walton said Monday during the plea hearing, per CNN.

More than a year after the election, Trump still refuses to acknowledge his loss and continues to lie that the election was "stolen" from him because of widespread voter fraud.

Walton has pushed back on Trump's ongoing election lies before. During another Capitol riot sentencing hearing last month, the federal judge said that he and others have received threats over handling these criminal cases.

"As judges, we're getting all kinds of threats and hostile phone calls when we have these cases before us, because there are unfortunately other people out there who buy in on this proposition, even though there was no proof, that somehow the election was fraudulent," Walton said, according to CNN.

Since January 6, 695 people have been charged in connection to the Capitol riot.