After winning the presidential election, Donald Trump told Time magazine he was still considering pardoning supporters involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, but he was particularly concerned about those accused of similar crimes people. “Nonviolent” crime.
"I take it on a case-by-case basis and if they are non-violent, I think they will be severely punished," he said.
Instead, Trump took broader action on his first day in office, pardoning most of the more than 1,500 people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6 attack. His actions paved the way for the release of many people convicted of violent attacks.
Here are some of them:
Dykes, from Bluffton, South Carolina, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for stealing a police riot shield and twice attacking officers with it. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer.
Prosecutors accused Dykes of giving the "Hail!" (Hail to Victory!) salute during the attack, but he denied this. Prosecutors also said Dykes quoted Adolf Hitler before the attack and that he had participated in training with the neo-Nazi accelerationist group Al Qaeda.
Dykes was discharged from the Marine Corps for "participating in extremist conduct" and was in federal custody when he was serving a five-year sentence for his conduct at the 2017 racist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. years in prison. .
Tucker, of Houston, was sentenced to just over six years in prison for attacking a law enforcement officer with bear spray and a metal whip. On December 20, 2023, he pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer with a dangerous weapon. He was arrested after a woman launched a sting operation on the dating app Bumble after the January 6 attack. Tucker and other participants on Jan. 6 gave her information about their activities during the attack, which she provided to investigators.
Tucker was on pretrial release on charges of soliciting a minor at the time of the attack. Prosecutors say he was one of the first to breach Capitol grounds and flood into the West Plaza.
Federal prosecutors said Quaglin "viciously attacked multiple police officers" and was one of the most violent rioters. He was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison.
On July 10, 2023, he was found guilty of 14 counts: 12 felonies and 2 misdemeanors.
"On at least a dozen occasions, Kwaglin stood face to face with police officers, screaming at them, pushing with open arms, punching, punching and slapping them; pushing his bike rack towards officers; and even choking an officer to the ground," he said. ” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
According to prosecutors, Quaglin said on social media that he traveled to Washington to fight in what he believed would be a "civil war!" He stands against authoritarian government and intends to show members of Congress who is their boss.
Quaglin, of North Brunswick, New Jersey, lashed out at the sentencing U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, whom Trump appointed in 2017.
"You were Trump's worst mistake in 2016," Quaglin told McFadden in a lengthy statement at sentencing.
McFadden told Quaglin he falsely claimed the attack was primarily peaceful.
"You were anything but calm that day," he said. "You are a danger to our society."
Jonatakis, of Kingston, Washington, was convicted in November 2023 of three felonies: obstructing an official proceeding, assaulting a police officer and rioting. Jonatakis represented himself at the trial and said he believed he was not subject to U.S. law.
He was also found guilty of four misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and being in a restricted building or grounds Engage in physical violence and engage in any act of physical violence on the grounds of any Capitol building. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
Prosecutors said he "coordinated a violent attack on a platoon of police officers defending the Capitol," and video shows him "attacking officers head-on using metal barricades and grabbing an officer to prevent him from attacking rioters while others Self-defense – Contributing to bodily injury to the officer.”
Before the attack, Jonatakis said on social media that he was going to Washington, D.C., to "change the course of history #stopthesteal" and that "what the British did to Washington will be meaningless..."
According to prosecutors, Dempsey "was one of the most violent rioters" and was sentenced to one of the longest sentences: 20 years in prison. The FBI arrested him in August 2021. He traveled to Washington with others from his home in Santa Ana, Calif., and attended a "Stop the Steal" rally at the Ellipse on the morning of Jan. 6.
Later that day, Dempsey said several Democratic politicians, including Clinton, Obama, Jerry Nadler and Nancy Pelosi, should be hanged, prosecutors said. They called "trash" and other expletives.
Prosecutors say Dempsey walked with others toward the Capitol and to the Lower West Mesa Tunnels, where some of the most violent attacks on law enforcement have occurred. Prosecutors also said he joined the crowd and charged into a line of police officers guarding the tunnel.
Prosecutors said Dempsey climbed over other rioters "like a human scaffold" and used "his hands, feet, flagpoles, crutches, pepper spray, broken furniture and anything else he could get his hands on" as a means of confronting police weapons.
Nearly three years later, on January 4, 2024, Dempsey pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a police officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Prosecutors said Dempsey had a "very significant history of arrests and convictions." In 2019, he attacked anti-Trump protesters with bear spray, resulting in a two-year suspended sentence. He also attacked a counter-protester with a skateboard in 2019, used the same skateboard to attack another person at a political protest the following year, and hit a person with a metal bar at another protest in 2020. celebrity.
Rodriguez, of Fontana, Calif., used a stun gun multiple times to stab Washington Police Officer Michael Fanon in the neck. Fanon was one of the most outspoken critics of the rioters.
Rodriguez traveled to Washington with Trump supporters who belong to a Telegram group called the "PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang." Prosecutors said he was the group's administrator.
“There will be bloodshed,” Rodriguez wrote in a “MAGA Gang” Telegram chat the night before the Jan. 6 attack. “Welcome to the revolution.”
He will continue to attend Trump rallies at the Ellipse. Rodriguez attacked Fanone on Jan. 6 after participating in a fight in the West Tunnel under the Capitol. He later bragged about his actions in a Telegram chat, writing: "Oh my God, I do so many fucked up things (now) and then get away with it," and "Unexpectedly got me fucked up." ".
He pleaded guilty in February 2023 to conspiracy to commit a felony, obstructing an official proceeding, tampering with documents or procedures and causing bodily harm to a police officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In a 20-minute rambling speech before the sentencing, Rodriguez said he "really" believed a civil war was about to begin and that he believed the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups were founded because of the The police stopped their actions. He acknowledged his behavior toward Fano but did not apologize.
Before being sentenced, Fanon said: "I have no sympathy or empathy for those who besieged our Capitol and I believe their actions were at least partially influenced by their leader, Donald Trump, and his lies." Corrupted by the attacks directed at me and my family by Donald Trump supporters and the right-wing media. "
Nichols, of Longview, Texas, called for more violence in his hotel room on Jan. 6 after attacking police officers with pepper spray.
Nichols confessed in the third person on video. He was arrested in Texas on January 18, 2021.
He pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one felony count of obstructing an official proceeding and assaulting a police officer in the discharge of his duties.
He was sentenced to more than five years in prison. in video Nichols said in a video recorded before taking part in the attack that the mob would lynch elected officials who voted to affirm President Joe Biden's victory.
"Ryan Nichols said, if you vote for treason, we're going to drag you fucking through the streets," he said in the video as he walked toward the Capitol.
After he was seen on video spraying huge canisters of chemical weapons at police officers in the Lower West Mesa Tunnel, Nichols took to Facebook to brag about his actions and call for more violence.
"So if you're wondering where Ryan Nichols stands, Ryan Nichols stands for violence," he said in a video cited by prosecutors.
Prosecutors asked for an 83-month sentence, noting that Nichols repeatedly said he was ready to die for his cause.
"I'd fucking die for this," Nichols said in the video after the attack. "But before I do that, I plan on letting others die for their country first, if that's what happens."
In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said that while Nichols' apology at the sentencing hearing seemed sincere, he was "very harsh" on the tape about his desire for future violence. comments".