During a flurry of executive orders on his first day in office, President Donald Trump pardoned nearly all the Jan. 6 defendants. “These are the hostages,” Trump claimed, while signing the pardon proclamation. “This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” the first line reads.
But the defendants and convicts Trump pardoned were not “hostages” in any sense. Outside of armed conflict, Merriam-Webster defines the word hostage as “a person taken by force to secure the taker’s demands.” Trump’s description of the Jan. 6 defendants implies that they were being held as collateral by one party in a conflict or dispute between two sides. That is false – and it fuels perceptions that the criminal justice system is partisan by nature. The pardoned defendants were charged with (and many of them were convicted at trial or pleaded guilty to) criminal activity on Jan. 6, 2021.
Press reporting indicates that Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants, but the real figure is likely closer to 1,600.
As of Jan. 6, 2025, according to the Justice Department, “[a]pproximately 1,583 defendants have been federally charged with crimes associated with the attack of the U.S. Capitol.” (A handful of cases were added to the docket after the DOJ published its latest statistics earlier this month.)
Trump pardoned all but 14 of these defendants, the remainder all being members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who instead received a commutation of sentence. Ten (10) of the defendants who had their sentences commuted were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other serious charges. (More on that below.)
About 81 percent of the Jan. 6 defendants pardoned by Trump – 1,270 in all – had already pleaded guilty to, or otherwise been convicted of, the federal charges. In other words, the court system had already rendered a verdict for the vast majority of defendants. Again, they were not “hostages” in any sense of the word.
Of the 1,270 cases that had already resulted in a conviction, about 1,009 Jan. 6 defendants pleaded guilty to the charges, with “approximately 327 defendants” pleading guilty to felonies and another 682 pleading “guilty only to misdemeanors.” In addition, 261 other defendants were either found guilty “at contested trials in U.S. District Court” (221 defendants), or “convicted following an agreed-upon set of facts presented to and accepted by the Court” (40 defendants). Ten (10) of the defendants found guilty at a contested trial were convicted of seditious conspiracy – the most serious crimes charged against the Jan. 6 defendants.
Republican lawmakers have objected to the idea of pardoning violent rioters. “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” Trump’s own vice president, J.D. Vance, said earlier this month. House Mike Johnson agreed, saying on Meet the Press the day before Trump’s inauguration: “I think what the President said and Vice-President-elect JD Vance has said is that peaceful protesters should be pardoned, but violent criminals should not.” After the fact, several Republican senators also criticized Trump’s decision to pardon those defendants convicted of violent crimes.
Despite Republican opposition, however, Trump pardoned nearly all the Jan. 6 defendants – including violent offenders. Several hundred of the pardoned defendants were charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement officers.
In addition, Trump granted pardons and commutations to the far-right extremists who engaged in a premeditated violent attack on Jan. 6 – namely, the leaders and members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. As has been amply documented, the Proud Boys were key instigators of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. While some of their leaders did not personally assault law enforcement officers on Jan. 6, they commanded the rioters who did and their plans included “overwhelming police defenses.” Brief summaries of their roles are also included below.
More than 600 Jan. 6 defendants were charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement officers.
As of this month, according to the DOJ, “[a]pproximately 608” Jan. 6 defendants had been “charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement agents or officers or obstructing those officers during a civil disorder, including approximately 174 defendants charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.”
Of these 608 defendants, 172 “pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement” and “69 pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous or deadly weapon.” (An additional 130 defendants “pleaded guilty to obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder (riot).”)
These figures do not tell the whole story, however, as the DOJ’s latest statistics do not break down the specific number of defendants convicted or charged with (and awaiting trial for) assaulting law enforcement as of earlier this month.
What we also know is that defendants pleaded guilty to assaulting cops in some high-profile cases.
For example, Julian Khater pleaded guilty on Sept. 1, 2022 to “two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon.” Khater admittedly used pepper spray on U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died the following day of “natural causes” after suffering two strokes.
At least three Jan. 6 defendants pleaded guilty to assaulting Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer Michael Fanone, who reportedly “suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury during the attack” and was forced to retire from the police force. Daniel Rodriguez pleaded guilty on Feb. 14, 2023 to tasing Fanone, as well as other charges. Another defendant, Kyle Young, pleaded guilty on May 5, 2022 to assaulting Fanone, as he “held the officer’s left wrist” and “pulled” Fanone’s “arm away from his body.” During the attack on officers in a Capitol tunnel, Young also “held a strobe light toward the police line and pushed forward a stick-like object.” A third man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty to dragging Fanone into the crowd of rioters, yelling “I got one!” Rodriguez was subsequently sentenced to more than 12 years in prison, while Young received more than seven years and Head was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.
David Dempsey pleaded guilty early last year to assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous weapon. Dempsey used pepper spray on officers, “kicked the shields of law enforcement officers,” and “took a long pole from the crowd and swung it at officers.” He also threw a “short pole-like object … striking a police officer” and yelled, “F— you b—ass cops.” Prosecutors described him as “political violence personified,” and U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth described his conduct as “exceptionally egregious,” according to Politico. “David Dempsey was one of the most violent participants and at times lead [sic] parts of the assaults on multiple officers who were protecting the Capitol that day,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said. Dempsey was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Dozens of additional defendants who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers can be found on the DOJ’s website, as long as the links remain active.
[Editor’s Note: Readers may also be interested in Trump’s Promise to Free Jan. 6 Inmates in DC Jail — Almost All of Them Assaulted Law Enforcement Officers (Apr. 2, 2024) and Profiles of the January 6th Inmates in the D.C. Jail (Mar. 20, 2023)]
Additional defendants were convicted at trial of assaulting law enforcement officers. Other defendants charged with that crime were awaiting trial. Though it is not clear how many defendants fall into these two categories (given how the DOJ published statistics on the cases), the number of pardoned defendants who attacked law enforcement officers on Jan. 6 is easily north of 241.
Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, was pardoned. Tarrio claimed responsibility for the attack while it was ongoing.
As I previously assessed, at least 100 Proud Boys and their associates were charged with Jan. 6 crimes. All of them have now been pardoned or had their sentences commuted to time served.
As of Oct. 9, 2024, of those 100 Proud Boys and their associates, 35 were charged with assaulting a police officer and 24 were convicted while 11 were still pending trial.
As explained by the DOJ, the evidence presented at the Proud Boys’ seditious conspiracy trial showed that Tarrio and his men played crucial roles in instigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Tarrio and three other Proud Boys – Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, and Zachary Rehl – “conspired to prevent, hinder and delay the certification of the Electoral College vote and to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States.” All four men were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges. (As noted, Biggs, Nordean, and Rehl had their sentences commuted.)
“No organization put more boots on the ground at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 than the Proud Boys, and they were at the forefront of every major breach of the Capitol’s defenses, leading the on-the-ground efforts to storm the seat of government,” then-U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew M. Graves said when Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison in September 2023.
The evidence presented by prosecutors showed that Tarrio told his men “…you want to storm the Capitol” two days prior to the attack. Prior to Jan. 6, Tarrio recorded an incriminating, 18-second video of a masked man, presumably Tarrio, triumphantly posing in front of the Capitol building. Tarrio posted it on social media the night of Jan. 6, titling it “Premonition,” indicating that Tarrio had foreknowledge of what was to come. During the attack, Tarrio also claimed responsibility, messaging his comrades: “Make no mistake…We did this…”
That is just some of the evidence presented at the Proud Boys’ seditious conspiracy trial. The overall leader of the extremist group that claimed responsibility for the attack on the U.S. Capitol is now free.
10 of the 14 Jan. 6 defendants who received commutations were convicted of seditious conspiracy
Just 14 Jan. 6 defendants were not pardoned by Trump. All of them had their sentences commuted to time served. All 14 were either leaders or members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. As Graves (the now former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia) explained, the heads of these two groups “conspired before, during, and after the siege of the Capitol to use force against their own government to prevent the peaceful transfer of power” and had been “held accountable.”
Indeed, 10 of these 14 defendants were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other serious charges. Seditious conspiracy was the gravest charge levied against the Jan. 6 defendants, as it meant the defendants engaged in “a conspiracy to use force to oppose the functioning of our government.”
Six of those convicted of seditious conspiracy are leaders and members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government extremist group. The first two Oath Keepers convicted of this charge were: Stewart Rhodes (the overall leader of the group) and Kelly Meggs (the head of the organization’s Florida chapter). In addition to seditious conspiracy, both men were convicted of other felonies as well.
“The United States proved at trial that the Oath Keepers plotted for months to violently disrupt the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next,” then Attorney General Merrick Garland said when the two Oath Keeper leaders were sentenced in May 2023. “The Justice Department will continue to do everything in our power to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6th attack on our democracy.”
With Trump’s pardon, that is no longer the case. The president has directed the DOJ to dismiss all pending cases as well.
In addition to Rhodes and Meggs, four other members of the Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy: Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel and Joseph Hackett. According to the DOJ, these four convicts, as well their co-conspirators, “plotted to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power, including by amassing an armed ‘quick reaction force” on the outskirts of” Washington, D.C. Their sentences have now been commuted to time served. As have the sentences for three other Oath Keepers who were convicted of “related felony charges,” but not seditious conspiracy: Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, and Jessica Watkins.
Finally, four other Proud Boys had their sentences commuted but did not receive pardons. As mentioned above, three of them – Biggs, Nordean, and Rehl – were convicted alongside Tarrio of seditious conspiracy and other crimes. As the DOJ explained, the trio “marched an assembled group of nearly 200 individuals … directly toward the Capitol.” Their incitement of the mob on Jan. 6 has been thoroughly documented. Still another Proud Boy who had his sentence commuted, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other charges. Using a stolen police riot shield, Pezzola “smashed open a window, allowing the first rioters to enter the Capitol.”
Although Trump did not pardon these 14 Jan. 6 convicts on his first day, Trump said that his administration was still investigating their cases, so it is possible they will also receive pardons.
The bottom line is that all the defendants who were convicted of committing acts of violence, and the extremists who led them, are now free.