Veterans in Oath Keepers, Proud Boys Convicted for Jan. 6 Crimes Have Sentences Commuted by Trump

Stewart Rhodes, Army veteran and leader of the right-wing militia known as the Oath Keepers, was released from prison Tuesday after President Donald Trump issued sweeping pardons or commutations to more than 1,500 people accused of crimes for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including those who were convicted of assaulting law enforcement.

Five of the Oath Keepers who had sentences commuted by the president on Monday -- including Rhodes, who was facing 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy -- were military veterans, some of whom stormed the Capitol in a quasi-military "stack" formation or helped store firearms across the Potomac River in Virginia for a "quick reaction force" amid plots to keep Congress from certifying the 2020 election.

Under a commutation, which is a lesser form of clemency compared to a full pardon, the veterans will be released from custody, but their felony convictions will remain on their criminal records, meaning they may face civil restrictions on things such as voting and owning firearms.

Read Next: Trailblazing Coast Guard Commandant Fired by Trump Administration

Trump issued commutations to the Oath Keepers and members of the far-right militant group the Proud Boys with military backgrounds, including Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.

Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, who was delivered the longest Jan. 6 sentence of 22 years, was granted a full pardon.

"Now that some of these folks and the more prominent leaders within the Oath Keepers and other militias are out and no longer under the jurisdiction of federal law enforcement, I think that it will probably provide them an opportunity to reconstitute," Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow with the George Washington University's Program on Extremism, told Military.com on Tuesday.

"It gives them almost a blank slate to start over with," he added.

Rhodes' lawyers did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday, but one of them, James Lee Bright, wrote on social media that he was "thankful for the commutation of our client Stewart Rhodes' sentence for seditious conspiracy," adding that the decision was "better than prison" though they had prayed for a full pardon and will appeal the conviction.

In his proclamation issued Monday, Trump made good on a campaign promise to pardon those convicted of crimes for Jan. 6, though even his vice president, Marine veteran J.D. Vance, said just over a week ago that those who "committed violence on that day" should "obviously" not be pardoned.

The move drew ire from former law enforcement who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 and lawmakers. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said that those who assaulted police officers at the Capitol that day should not get a pardon.

"You make this place less safe if you send the signal that police officers could potentially be assaulted and there is no consequence," he told Reuters. "It's pretty straightforward to me."

Craig Sicknick, the brother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was attacked at the Capitol and died from strokes the following day, also told Reuters that his brother "died in vain."

"What Trump did is despicable, and it proves that the United States no longer has anything that resembles a justice system," he said, according to the outlet.

Trump also directed the attorney general to dismiss "with prejudice to the government" all pending indictments for those involved in Jan. 6, saying that the overall pardon decision "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."

After Trump gave a speech nearby on Jan. 6, 2021, hundreds of his supporters marched on the Capitol as Congress was certifying the election results. The supporters, inspired by months of false claims by Trump that the election had been stolen, broke through windows and doors; assaulted and injured 140 police officers; and destroyed property, causing $2.8 million in damage, according to the Justice Department.

Now, it appears those dismissals directed by Trump are already rolling in. For example, the government filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss the indictment of former Marine Maj. Christopher Warnagiris, who was arrested while he was on active duty and faced charges involving assaulting law enforcement at the Capitol, according to court records reviewed by Military.com.

Some of the services still have troops sentenced for Jan. 6 crimes within their ranks, Military.com previously reported, and did not relay a unified plan on how to handle pardons for veterans or military personnel tied to the Capitol riot.

The other military veterans associated with the Oath Keepers on Jan. 6 who had their sentences commuted Monday were Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Edward Vallejo and Thomas Caldwell. They were sentenced for less time than Rhodes and for various lesser offenses, such as obstruction of an official proceeding or interfering with law enforcement officers during civil disorder.

Some of them vilified the militia founder in court, with Vallejo telling a judge in 2023 that "I wish I never associated myself with Stewart Rhodes," for example. Military.com reported in 2022 that Rhodes, who served in the Army for a little over two-and-a-half years, sought to recruit veterans into his organization, taking advantage of those looking for meaning after service to bolster the Oath Keepers' credibility, according to former members, those once close to the founder, and court records.

Baumgartner noted generally that those who spoke to law enforcement or testified during court could "have a target on their back from the more faithful and more fervent believers or members" of the extremist groups.

Of the pardon, Baumgartner, an Army veteran, said that "it's an amplification of the same sort of rhetoric that led them there in the first place."

Related: Convicted Oath Keeper Leader Preyed on Veterans Looking for Meaning After Service