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By Monica Sager and Gabe Whisnant
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Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes have been released from prison following a sweeping order by President Donald Trump that overturned a number of sentences for January 6, 2021, Capitol riots offenses, included the seditious conspiracy convictions for the pair of leaders.
Trump's order benefited more than 1,500 defendants involved in the incident.
Why It Matters
One of Trump's first actions after returning to the White House was pardoning about 1,500 people who were convicted in connection with the January 6 attack that saw a mob of his supporters storm the Capitol in a bid to stop the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
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The convictions and imprisonment of January 6 participants was a hot-button issue in the election with Trump often referring to the defendants as political prisoners.
Rhodes and Tarrio were among the most prominent defendants from the riot and had received some of the harshest punishments in what became the largest investigation in the history of the Justice Department.
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What To Know
Rhodes' and Tarrio's attorneys confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that they had been released hours after Trump issued pardons, commuted sentences, or ordered the dismissal of cases against all of the more than 1,500 individuals charged with federal crimes in the riot.
Stewart Rhodes
Former head and founder of the Oath Keepers Elmer Stewart Rhodes III was sentenced in 2023 to 18 years for seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and tampering with documents and proceedings. At the time, Rhodes said he was a "political prisoner."
Prior to January 6, Rhodes posted to the far-right organization's website saying: "It is CRITICAL that all patriots who can be in D.C. get to D.C. to stand tall in support of President Trump's fight to defeat the enemies foreign and domestic who are attempting a coup, through the massive voter fraud and related attacks on our Republic. We Oath Keepers are both honor-bound and eager to be there in strength to do our part."
At his prosecution, federal prosecutor Kathryn Rakoczy said: "Mr. Rhodes led a conspiracy to use force and violence to intimidate and coerce members of our government into stopping the lawful transfer of power following a presidential election. As the court has just found - that is terrorism."
Enrique Tarrio
Tarrio's sentence was passed down by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly in September 2023, following an extensive hearing that included final statements from prosecutors and pleas for leniency from Tarrio's family. The 22-year sentence was notably less than the 33 years sought by the government, but still longer than prison terms given to Tarrio's co-conspirators from his seditious conspiracy trial. Tarrio's sentence is also the harshest given to any defendant in the Capitol riot.
Tarrio served in his leadership position with the Proud Boys from 2018 to 2021, seeing the group through a period of time in which, amid the tenure of Trump's first White House run and win, it rose to greater national prominence.
Numerous members of the group were eventually arrested and accused of participating in the Capitol riot, which triggered strife among its ranks. Revelations that Tarrio had acted as an informant for law enforcement in 2012 and 2014 caused further divides in the group. He later stepped down as national chairman of the Proud Boys, but claimed that these divisions were not the reason.
Tarrio was not present in Washington, D.C., on the day of the Capitol riot, having been arrested only days prior in connection with a previous incident, and released from jail on the condition that he not enter the district. As the attack unfolded, Tarrio was holed up in a Baltimore hotel room, though prosecutors argued in court that his absence from the siege did "nothing to detract from the severity of his conduct" in orchestrating the Proud Boys' involvement in the event, calling him "a general rather than a soldier," a sentiment with which Judge Kelly later concurred.
What People Are Saying
Republican Senator Thom Tillis told CNN: "The fact that police officers could potentially be assaulted and there's no consequence, it's pretty straight forward to me...I think it raises a legitimate safety question on Capitol Hill."
Marc Caputo, senior politics reporter for Axios, told CNN: "In the end, Donald Trump had an opportunity to do a lot of work and put in the time, to separate the wheat from the chaff or he could have just done a big blanket thing, a big stroke of the pen. Donald Trump likes these big actions. In the end, that weighed out over these other considerations."
What's Next
An ongoing list of those who have been pardoned or had their sentences commuted by Trump will soon be released.
More to follow.
Update: 1/21/25, 11:51 a.m.: This article has been updated with more information.
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