The Trump administration's Department of Justice is seeking to throw out the convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members who were found guilty in connection with the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, according to reporting by The Independent.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro filed requests to vacate the cases against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and others who had been convicted on seditious conspiracy and other serious charges related to the assault on the Capitol.
Who was convicted
Rhodes was among the most prominent figures prosecuted following the January 6 attack. He was found guilty of seditious conspiracy - one of the most serious charges brought in connection with the riot - and sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. Multiple members of both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers were convicted on a range of charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy counts.
A broader reversal of Jan. 6 prosecutions
The move is part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to revisit and reverse legal actions stemming from January 6. Shortly after returning to office in January 2025, President Donald Trump issued pardons for a large number of individuals charged or convicted in connection with the Capitol breach.
The DOJ's latest filing goes further, targeting convictions of individuals who had been sentenced for the most serious offenses linked to that day, including those described by federal prosecutors in earlier proceedings as having coordinated and led groups in the attack.
Context and reaction
The original prosecutions were the result of one of the largest federal investigations in U.S. history, involving hundreds of defendants and years of court proceedings. Prosecutors had argued that groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys played an organized role in disrupting the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Critics of the dismissal effort argue it undermines the rule of law and the findings of juries that deliberated and delivered guilty verdicts in these cases. Supporters of the move, including allies of the Trump administration, have characterized many of the January 6 prosecutions as politically motivated overreach by the previous administration's Justice Department.
The dismissals, if granted by the courts, would represent a significant legal reversal for cases that were widely considered landmark prosecutions involving domestic extremism and threats to democratic institutions.
