Donald Trump grants clemency to most people involved in Capitol riot

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Nearly everyone involved in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, received clemency from President Donald Trump on Monday in one of his earliest acts back in office.

The new president cast his long-expected executive action as an act to heal a nation fractured over the 2020 election that Trump lost but again attributed Monday to a “rigged” outcome.

“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” Trump said Monday night in a proclamation from the White House.

The mass pardons apply to all but a handful of the most violent people involved in the mob attack.

At least 11 Arizonans were convicted in connection with the riot. They ranged from Phoenix resident Jake Angeli, the “QAnon shaman” who became the worldwide face of the riot to a pair of Tucson siblings mostly forgotten among the more than 1,500 cases stemming from the violence.

Trump’s sweeping moves overturned hundreds of convictions during the Biden administration and more fully cast the historic riot as a matter of political perspective than of criminal mayhem.

Trump didn’t reference the “J6” cohort during his inaugural address but made clear during public remarks to Republicans in the Capitol shortly afterward that he wanted to do so.

“You’re going to see a lot of action on the J6 hostages,” he said during that event, which telegraphed his intentions hours before his signing ceremony.

In an interview earlier Monday with Joe Polish, who has battled and written about addiction and recovery, Angeli said, “Waving a magic wand, I’d love to see America have a culture that is symbiotic with each other and the environment. I honestly think that’s coming now that we have this new administration.”

“Am I bitter? No. My faith is stronger than it has ever been,” he said. “I am very, very excited about the future."

More than 700 people were convicted of misdemeanors in connection with the January 6 riots. Another 300 people have been charged with crimes in cases that are expected to now be dropped under the Trump administration.

A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll last month found two-thirds of Americans opposed pardons for those convicted of crimes during the riot. Other polls have found similar majorities against such clemency. But Trump’s supporters have shown enthusiastic approval for it.

Angeli, whose distinctive red, white and blue face paint, and bullhorn headdress helped lend a surreal quality to the riot, was among the first to enter the U.S. Capitol.

He and thousands of Trump supporters marched to the Capitol and shut down congressional proceedings for hours on the day when Congress certified the 2020 election of former President Joe Biden.

A judge said Angeli “literally spearheaded” the movement into the chamber. Angeli briefly sat at the dais of the U.S. Senate and left a note for then-Vice President Mike Pence that read: “It’s only a matter of time. Justice is coming.”

Angeli was among at least 11 people with Arizona ties to face charges in the insurrection.

He was arrested three days after the riot when he visited the Phoenix FBI office for what he thought was a routine follow-up interview. His fur hat and spear were in his car. Days after his arrest, Angeli, through his attorney asked for a pardon from Trump. He said he only went to Washington that day because Trump had called his supporters to amass there.

Angeli was charged under his legal name Jacob Chansley. He pled guilty in September 2021 to a single felony count of obstructing a civil proceeding.

These are the others with Arizona ties prosecuted for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021:

Edward Vallejo was convicted of seditious conspiracy in the same case as Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, both of whom were specifically identified by name in the clemency papers. Vallejo is in prison serving a three-year sentence.

He and others planned for months to amass an armed “quick reaction force” outside Washington to help prevent a change in the presidency.

The group traveled to the area “with paramilitary gear and supplies including firearms, tactical vests with plates, helmets, and radio equipment.”

Rhodes received 18 years in prison for his crimes. A decade ago, he disparaged then-U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for crimes against the Constitution as Rhodes saw it. McCain, who died in 2018, should be tried for treason, convicted and “hung by the neck until dead,” Rhodes said at a Tempe event in 2015.

Cottonwood resident Nathan Wayne Entrekin, 51, was dressed as Captain Moroni, a figure from the Book of Mormon who fought for self-determination for the Nephites.

He walked through the Capitol, taking selfies and talking on his phone to his mother. After seeing people ransack congressional offices, he left once and returned minutes later.

Entrekin received a 45-day jail sentence.

Jacob Zerkle of Bowie marched to the Capitol with members of the far-right Proud Boys organization and pushed at least three officers on a plaza outside the building.

Zerkle received a two-year prison sentence and is scheduled for release in September.

Joshua Knowles of Gilbert was charged with a municipal curfew violation after he repeatedly refused to disperse. He was later indicted on federal misdemeanor charges in connection with the riot. He said he faced the threat of a felony indictment if he didn’t plead guilty to the misdemeanors.

Knowles is nearly five months into a seven-month prison term.

Tucson siblings Cory and Felicia Konold were accused of walking to the U.S. Capitol with members of the Proud Boys organization. Prosecutors said they were among the first to trample over the barricades.

She received a 45-day sentence, which she served while pregnant, and her brother received a 30-day term.

Micajah Joel Jackson, 28, of Laveen walked with members of the Proud Boys to the Capitol, documenting his travels on his phone.

Jackson received a probationary sentence.

Three of the men nabbed in Arizona lived out of state at the time.

James Burton McGrew of Mississippi was arrested at his sister’s Glendale house. He was identified by the “King James” tattoo on his stomach that was visible in the Capitol. The U.S. Marine veteran struck two officers and threw a wooden handrail with metal brackets on it at others.

He drew a 78-month sentence in January 2023 and was scheduled for release on Jan. 6, 2027, the sixth anniversary of the attack.

Andrew Hatley, a South Carolina trucker who was arrested in Eloy, initially denied he was at the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors placed him there through tracking information on his phone and an eyewitness.

Hatley was sentenced to probation.

Israel Matson wandered through the Capitol but didn’t battle police or damage property.

Then an Ogden, Utah, resident who later moved to Kingman, where he was arrested, Matson said Trump’s 2024 victory shows that those who marched on the Capitol were justifiably indignant.

Matson told The Arizona Republic he hoped to receive a pardon from Trump.

“I expect one and absolutely want one,” he said in a December interview with The Republic.

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