Trump-Pardoned J6 Siblings Reflect on FBI Pursuit, Prison, and Faith
During a radio appearance on Breitbart News SaturdayWashington bureau chief Matthew Boyle moderated a wide-ranging conversation with Olivia and Jonny Pollock, siblings featured in a new documentary that explores their role in the Jan. 6 protest at the Capitol, their time in hiding or under court supervision, and their eventual pardons from President Donald Trump on his first day back in office.
Almost five years after the events of January 6, 2021, a new independent documentary entitled God bless America, baby highlights the personal stories of several individuals involved in the largest criminal investigation in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice. Among his most prominent subjects are Jonny and Olivia Pollock, siblings who were on the run before being apprehended by federal agents. Both were incarcerated for 13 months before receiving a full presidential pardon on January 20, 2025.
The film, produced by the journalist and former Dallas Morning News Foreign correspondent Tracey Eaton follows the Pollock family and their entourage through a turbulent period marked by political turmoil, legal risks and deep personal convictions. Eaton, who met the family while covering political rallies in Florida in 2020, is quoted in the film’s press release as saying he was drawn to their story as a “powerful human” story, one that deserved to be told “whether you agree with them or not.”
On Saturday’s show, host Matthew Boyle identified Eaton as one of his former journalism professors at Flagler College. Olivia Pollock praised Eaton’s approach to the documentary, saying: “He was always respectful, always very kind to us, because he followed us over the last four years and just told the story the way we told it. He didn’t put his own spin on it. He didn’t try to put his own agenda on it like so many of the news media and others do today, he just told the story on the facts and what he saw and heard us say and that’s so rare these days, and it’s such a blessing to ask him to tell our story.
Jonny Pollock called January 6 the start of what he called a “roller coaster” spanning five years. “We were proud to be there. We were proud to be part of such a historic event,” he said, recounting how he and others, including his sister Olivia, stood outside the Capitol with flags, surrounded by what he described as a peaceful and patriotic crowd that included elderly women and young people.
According to Pollock, the situation changed abruptly when law enforcement began using force against the crowd. “All of a sudden we start getting attacked out of nowhere,” he said, recalling the use of pepper spray and batons. “We asked ourselves: what just happened? ” For Pollock, this experience became proof that “this was truly a battle between good and evil.”
As a result of the protest, both siblings say they became the target of a federal investigation. Jonny Pollock said he saw his image on a wanted list and made the decision to evade capture, citing concerns about the fairness of the justice system. “We knew we wouldn’t get justice in Washington, otherwise we would have gone to court,” he said. His time on the run involved strict precautions to avoid surveillance. “We get rid of everything with the media or the Internet. It was mainly about relying on God to protect us.”
Olivia Pollock initially stayed home, not expecting to face the same scrutiny. But during a pre-dawn raid, the FBI arrived with flashes and loudspeakers. “It was a great show,” she remarked. “They wanted to intimidate anyone who was thinking about standing up for something so that they wouldn’t do it. » After two years under court supervision and facing a looming trial, she removed her ankle monitor and joined her brother and others in hiding.
“I kept thinking, like, don’t get on the train,” she continued. “Like in World War II, when they would just load the Jews, or others, onto the train and send them to the concentration camp, they would just walk onto the train. I’m like, well, the least I can do is not get on the train – in the sense that I didn’t just surrender. That I’m going to make them work for this.”
The siblings lived off-grid — Jonny for nearly three years and Olivia for 11 months — relying on older vehicles, cash and avoiding digital trails to evade detection by federal authorities. They were finally arrested on January 6, 2024, after someone provided the FBI with a map of their location.
During their detention, the two men had very different experiences. Jonny was eventually placed with other inmates on January 6 in a separate unit, while Olivia remained in the general population. “Prison was such a horrible place,” Jonny remarked, criticizing the state of the prison system and saying it was no longer focused on reform. “They just throw you in a box and forget about you.”
Both siblings expressed intense relief and renewed hope upon seeing Donald Trump declare victory on election night in 2024. Olivia remembers other inmates in her unit running up to her door, knocking and shouting, “You’re going home.” Jonny, watching the moment from a cell “the size of a small bathroom”, added that there was “just the biggest relief and the biggest smile that you couldn’t get rid of because you knew that was it.” We did it, and the Lord came for us. »
Throughout the interview, the Pollocks emphasized that their faith has played a central role in their decisions and endurance over the past five years. Olivia described their actions as rooted in the belief that freedom is a “gift from God” and a responsibility passed down from previous generations. “It’s not just our right. It’s our duty to defend these things and maintain the freedoms that we’ve been given,” she said.
Jonny recalls feeling a deep sense of spiritual peace during his time in hiding, referencing a biblical passage about “a peace that passes all understanding” as he reflected on being alone and pursued. “You are committed to a cause, when you have a goal, then you can rest on that,” he said. Both siblings expressed their belief that their faith had sustained them in prison, with Olivia adding: “God wasn’t going to put us through all of this just to let us languish in prison.” You just had this hope and feeling in your mind, like everything was going to be okay.even if we had to spend a few years in prison. God was going to give us what we needed.
Now broadcast on Relay, an independent film platform, God bless America, baby was selected by 21 film festivals around the world. It won Best Feature Documentary at the Roma Short Film Festival in Italy; received awards at the Clout International Film Fest in California and the Southeast Asian International Film Festival in Thailand; was nominated at the Director’s Cut Film Festival in Budapest, Hungary; and earned honorable mentions at the Folkestone Film Festival in Connecticut, the Awareness Festival in Los Angeles, and the Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival in Greece.
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