Trump administration moves to toss remaining Jan. 6 convictions, clearing Proud Boys and Oath Keepers

The Trump administration moved Tuesday to expunge some of the remaining convictions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol because some were still in effect after President Donald Trump’s mass pardons last year.

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The filing, submitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by the office of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, asks the court to “vacate” the convictions of four Proud Boys members: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.

All four were convicted in 2023 of several criminal charges, and all but Pezzola were convicted of seditious conspiracy.

While Trump granted full pardons to the overwhelming majority of the Jan. 6 defendants, his proclamation granted 14 people sentence commutations, meaning their sentences were reduced to time served but not vacated outright. The request would expunge those convictions.

Officials wrote that overturning the four defendants’ convictions would be “in the interest of justice.”

“In the judgment of the Executive Branch, it is not in the interests of justice to continue to pursue this case or the cases of other similarly situated defendants,” officials wrote.

Rehl, who was seen on a Jan. 6 video pepper-spraying officers, wrote in an article on X that he was “beyond pleased” with the administration’s record.

“After all the fighting, it seems this chapter is finally over. Fighting persistently for truth and justice pays off! » Rehl wrote. “Thank you to everyone who supported us in this fight! I love you all!”

Rehl was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in 2023. He had said he did not “remember” any officers spraying a chemical substance.

Nordean — who was on trial alongside Rehl, Biggs, Pezzola and Enrique Tarrio, who was not named in Tuesday’s filing — was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. Prosecutors wrote that Nordean “played a central role in sparking violence and destruction at the U.S. Capitol” on January 6, 2021.

Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison, with prosecutors writing that he “served as an instigator and leader” during the riot. Pezzola was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after the trial. He was filmed breaking a window when rioters first broke into the Capitol.

Officials said they are filing similar motions in cases involving members of the Oath Keepers.

Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges, received a pardon from Trump last year. He celebrated the record as a victory, writing of X that “our lives are now closer to being whole.”

“Jeanine Pirro has decided to drop all charges in the ProudBoys sedition trial,” Tarrio wrote. “This is my happiest day since the forgiveness that freed us from the clutches of injustice!”

Alexis Loeb, a former deputy in the now-shuttered Capitol Siege Unit, told NBC News on Tuesday that overturning the convictions would have practical implications, even though the defendants had already been released from federal prison.

“If their convictions are overturned, they will not suffer the collateral consequences that come with a felony conviction, such as being prohibited from possessing a firearm,” Loeb said.

Upon his return to office in January 2025, Trump issued approximately 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14 others involved in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Since Trump issued the mass pardons, several of the Jan. 6 defendants have been charged with other crimes, including child sexual abuse.

Daniel Tocci was sentenced last month to four years in prison for possessing a “huge collection of child pornography”. Andrew Paul Johnson was sentenced to life in prison in March on charges of sexually assaulting a child under 12 and another under 16.

David Daniel, who admitted to assaulting law enforcement during the riot, will plead guilty in a separate case involving child exploitation involving several victims, including minors under the age of 12.