Filip Timotija
THE HILL
Sat, January 25, 2025
Former federal prosecutor Brendan Ballou says those pardoned by President Trump for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack have “never been more dangerous.”
In an essay published Friday by The New York Times, Ballou urged local officials to protect immigrants and other groups that he thinks the defendants might go after first.
“While some convicted rioters seem genuinely remorseful, and others appear simply ready to put politics behind them, many others are emboldened by the termination of what they see as unjust prosecutions,” he wrote.
“Freed by the president, they have never been more dangerous,” the ex-prosecutor added.
Ballou, who resigned from the Justice Department on Thursday, then listed two high-profile Jan. 6 defendants, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who were recently freed from prison, as examples.
“They are now free to pursue revenge, and have already said they want it,” Ballou said.
He argued the effect and the purpose of Trump’s pardons when he returned to office Monday is to “encourage vigilantes and militias loyal to the president, but unaccountable to the government.”
“Illiberal democracies and outright dictatorships often rely on such militia groups, whose organization and seriousness can range widely, from the vigilantes who enforce Iran’s hijab dress code to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia that have killed government opponents,” Ballou wrote.
Trump issued around 1,500 “full, complete and unconditional pardons” for defendants prosecuted in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. The total number of people charged was 1,583. The move has sparked vocal criticism from Democrats and even divided House GOP lawmakers.
“[I] don’t agree with the pardoning of people that committed violence or even damage to property,” Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) said. “If you climbed in through a window, I think probably you knew what you were doing was against the law, and I don’t think it was appropriate to pardon them.”
Ballou suggested that Trump released some of the violent defendants in order to “carry out his agenda and silence his critics through violence.”
“Vigilantes could harass, assault or even kill perceived enemies of the state. Under the thin pretext that these vigilantes were acting in self-defense, the president could pardon them for federal crimes, or pressure pliant governors to do the same for state ones,” Ballou wrote in the op-ed.
“In such a scenario, the president could put those loyal to him above the law, quite literally,”he continued. “This kind of violence was a part of our past; it may be a part of our future.”
In his view, local law enforcement should “prioritize” protecting immigrants, transgender people and opposition lawmakers first, as they could be targeted first.
Two rioters have thus far rejected the president’s pardon and publicly stated their wrongdoing after the 2020 election was certified for former President Biden.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Sat, January 25, 2025
Former federal prosecutor Brendan Ballou says those pardoned by President Trump for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack have “never been more dangerous.”
In an essay published Friday by The New York Times, Ballou urged local officials to protect immigrants and other groups that he thinks the defendants might go after first.
“While some convicted rioters seem genuinely remorseful, and others appear simply ready to put politics behind them, many others are emboldened by the termination of what they see as unjust prosecutions,” he wrote.
“Freed by the president, they have never been more dangerous,” the ex-prosecutor added.
Ballou, who resigned from the Justice Department on Thursday, then listed two high-profile Jan. 6 defendants, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who were recently freed from prison, as examples.
“They are now free to pursue revenge, and have already said they want it,” Ballou said.
He argued the effect and the purpose of Trump’s pardons when he returned to office Monday is to “encourage vigilantes and militias loyal to the president, but unaccountable to the government.”
“Illiberal democracies and outright dictatorships often rely on such militia groups, whose organization and seriousness can range widely, from the vigilantes who enforce Iran’s hijab dress code to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia that have killed government opponents,” Ballou wrote.
Trump issued around 1,500 “full, complete and unconditional pardons” for defendants prosecuted in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. The total number of people charged was 1,583. The move has sparked vocal criticism from Democrats and even divided House GOP lawmakers.
“[I] don’t agree with the pardoning of people that committed violence or even damage to property,” Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) said. “If you climbed in through a window, I think probably you knew what you were doing was against the law, and I don’t think it was appropriate to pardon them.”
Ballou suggested that Trump released some of the violent defendants in order to “carry out his agenda and silence his critics through violence.”
“Vigilantes could harass, assault or even kill perceived enemies of the state. Under the thin pretext that these vigilantes were acting in self-defense, the president could pardon them for federal crimes, or pressure pliant governors to do the same for state ones,” Ballou wrote in the op-ed.
“In such a scenario, the president could put those loyal to him above the law, quite literally,”he continued. “This kind of violence was a part of our past; it may be a part of our future.”
In his view, local law enforcement should “prioritize” protecting immigrants, transgender people and opposition lawmakers first, as they could be targeted first.
Two rioters have thus far rejected the president’s pardon and publicly stated their wrongdoing after the 2020 election was certified for former President Biden.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Trump pardoned the January 6 convicts. Now his DOJ is wiping evidence of rioters’ crimes from the internet
Donie O'Sullivan and Katelyn Polantz,
CNN
Sun, January 26, 2025
Supporters of Donald Trump clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021.
As President Donald Trump this week sought to rewrite the history of his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol, a database detailing the vast array of criminal charges and successful convictions of January 6 rioters was removed from the Department of Justice’s website.
The searchable database served as an easily accessible repository of all January 6, 2021, cases prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The US attorney’s office declined to comment.
The removal of the comprehensive website cataloguing the largest criminal investigation in modern department history coincides with Trump’s decision to pardon all convicted January 6 defendants. The president also released early from prison 14 members of far-right extremist groups, including 10 convicted of seditious conspiracy. He also asked the federal courts in Washington to dismiss the more than 300 cases that hadn’t yet been resolved.
Judges over the past few days have pushed back on what they called Trump’s “whitewashing” of the mob’s attack of the Capitol as the administration quickly wound down cases against some of the most violent rioters who injured police.
The DOJ site’s removal was celebrated by those convicted for their actions on January 6 and their supporters.
“This is a huge victory for J6ers,” Brandon Straka, who was among those pardoned by Trump for his role in the Capitol riot, wrote on X, adding, “This site was one of countless weapons of harassment used by the federal government to make life impossible for its targets from J6.”
Straka credited the new Trump-appointed acting US attorney in Washington, DC, Ed Martin, for the site’s removal. Martin was an organizer with the “Stop the Steal” movement and was involved in the financing of the January 6, 2021, Trump rally on the Ellipse that occurred directly before the attack on the Capitol.
Straka wrote that he had campaigned for the site’s removal because “every time a potential employer, landlord, new social or business contact, etc, would search somebody targeted for J6 they would read a dossier on each person filled with FBI and FOJ accusations and narratives that were never proven, along with links to documents with even more damaging allegations.”
The vast majority of the government’s claims, however, were proved through the courts. About 1,250 people were convicted of crimes related to January 6.
Parts of the database were still accessible Sunday through the Internet Archive.
Not all the information in the database was up to date, as demonstrated through a selection of pages CNN was able to access through the archived version of the site.
Some pages listed only charges against individuals, rather stating what they were or were not eventually convicted of.
Thousands of pages that were part of the database now appear to be inaccessible. Details of January 6 cases are still accessible on the DOJ’s website in the form of press releases about charges and convictions. They are also still available through court records and services such as Pacer.
The FBI — representing another leg of the Justice Department — also took offline its compendium of wanted Capitol rioters. Some of those individuals were fugitives or rioters who hadn’t been identified, and the FBI had posted images and other information of the suspects it was still seeking.
The FBI and DOJ pages had also provided information about the unsolved case of two pipe bombs found outside the headquarters for the Republican and Democratic national committees on January 5, 2021. As of earlier this month, the FBI still hadn’t identified the person it believed planted the two viable but unexploded bombs, despite law enforcement agencies offering a reward of up to $500,000 for information that could lead to an arrest.
While the FBI’s “US Capitol Violence — Most Wanted” web page is now down, news releases and a “seeking information” page from the agency with details about the pipe bomb suspect specifically and the reward offer are still available online.
This story and headline have been updated.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Sun, January 26, 2025
Supporters of Donald Trump clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021.
As President Donald Trump this week sought to rewrite the history of his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol, a database detailing the vast array of criminal charges and successful convictions of January 6 rioters was removed from the Department of Justice’s website.
The searchable database served as an easily accessible repository of all January 6, 2021, cases prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The US attorney’s office declined to comment.
The removal of the comprehensive website cataloguing the largest criminal investigation in modern department history coincides with Trump’s decision to pardon all convicted January 6 defendants. The president also released early from prison 14 members of far-right extremist groups, including 10 convicted of seditious conspiracy. He also asked the federal courts in Washington to dismiss the more than 300 cases that hadn’t yet been resolved.
Judges over the past few days have pushed back on what they called Trump’s “whitewashing” of the mob’s attack of the Capitol as the administration quickly wound down cases against some of the most violent rioters who injured police.
The DOJ site’s removal was celebrated by those convicted for their actions on January 6 and their supporters.
“This is a huge victory for J6ers,” Brandon Straka, who was among those pardoned by Trump for his role in the Capitol riot, wrote on X, adding, “This site was one of countless weapons of harassment used by the federal government to make life impossible for its targets from J6.”
Straka credited the new Trump-appointed acting US attorney in Washington, DC, Ed Martin, for the site’s removal. Martin was an organizer with the “Stop the Steal” movement and was involved in the financing of the January 6, 2021, Trump rally on the Ellipse that occurred directly before the attack on the Capitol.
Straka wrote that he had campaigned for the site’s removal because “every time a potential employer, landlord, new social or business contact, etc, would search somebody targeted for J6 they would read a dossier on each person filled with FBI and FOJ accusations and narratives that were never proven, along with links to documents with even more damaging allegations.”
The vast majority of the government’s claims, however, were proved through the courts. About 1,250 people were convicted of crimes related to January 6.
Parts of the database were still accessible Sunday through the Internet Archive.
Not all the information in the database was up to date, as demonstrated through a selection of pages CNN was able to access through the archived version of the site.
Some pages listed only charges against individuals, rather stating what they were or were not eventually convicted of.
Thousands of pages that were part of the database now appear to be inaccessible. Details of January 6 cases are still accessible on the DOJ’s website in the form of press releases about charges and convictions. They are also still available through court records and services such as Pacer.
The FBI — representing another leg of the Justice Department — also took offline its compendium of wanted Capitol rioters. Some of those individuals were fugitives or rioters who hadn’t been identified, and the FBI had posted images and other information of the suspects it was still seeking.
The FBI and DOJ pages had also provided information about the unsolved case of two pipe bombs found outside the headquarters for the Republican and Democratic national committees on January 5, 2021. As of earlier this month, the FBI still hadn’t identified the person it believed planted the two viable but unexploded bombs, despite law enforcement agencies offering a reward of up to $500,000 for information that could lead to an arrest.
While the FBI’s “US Capitol Violence — Most Wanted” web page is now down, news releases and a “seeking information” page from the agency with details about the pipe bomb suspect specifically and the reward offer are still available online.
This story and headline have been updated.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
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