Shortly after being sworn in as president, Donald Trump granted clemency to Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys former chairman who received the longest sentence of those prosecuted for the Jan. 6 attack — 22 years — after being convicted of the rare charge of seditious conspiracy for the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump also commuted Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes’ sentence; he had been serving an 18-year-long seditious conspiracy sentence for his actions related to Jan. 6, including bringing armed followers to Washington in preparation for civil war.
Trump’s pardoning or commuting sentences of more than 1,500 Jan. 6 offenders, including Tarrio and Rhodes and 12 other notable leaders of far-right militant groups, is a dangerous move for our democracy and our national security, on several levels.
Seditious conspiracy is an extraordinary and serious charge that is one step shy of treason.
Across the far-right spectrum, Trump’s pardons have been received as a vindication, infusing extremist movements with new energy. “Success is going to be retribution,” Tarrio shared on Alex Jones’ “Infowars” podcast following the news of his release. Rhodes said the news of the pardons marked “a good day for America.”
The Proud Boys are now “back, baby,” in the words of one Proud Boy marching in Washington on Inauguration Day in gleeful advance celebration of the pardons. The group, brandishing a banner congratulating Trump, was “given a hero’s welcome” by other Trump supporters while they marched, chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets!”
The Proud Boys is a men’s only, self-described “Western chauvinist” group. Even prior to the Jan. 6 attacks, its members saw themselves as foot soldiers in “Trump’s army,” called to action when he told them to “stand back and stand by” at a presidential debate in fall 2020. The Oath Keepers are an anti-government group associated with the militia movement, focused on fighting perceived government tyranny against their interpretation of the Constitution. While the Jan. 6 convictions fractured both groups, they were still showing significant signs of life.
Seditious conspiracy is an extraordinary and serious charge that is one step shy of treason. It requires proof that at least two people conspired to levy war or “to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force” the U.S. government or to prevent U.S. law from being executed. Prior to the Jan. 6 trials, prosecutors had not tried a seditious conspiracy case in over a decade, and had not won a case in nearly 30 years, since a 1995 trial of Islamist militants who had plotted terror attacks in New York City. More people (14 from the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys combined) were convicted of seditious conspiracy for Jan. 6 than for any other event since the Civil War.
Granting clemency for seditious conspiracy related to the U.S. Capitol attack does tremendous damage to trust in our democratic institutions and in the rule of law. It reinforces a narrative that the Capitol attackers did nothing wrong. It insults the scores of Capitol Police officers who defended the institution that day, some paying with their lives, and ensures that there will never be a commonly accepted historical account of what happened that day, despite the criminal convictions. Granting clemency also weakens the already-declining trust that Americans have in the judicial system and the courts, which dropped to a record low of 35% in 2024.
By valorizing political violence and extremist action, the pardons legitimize the actions of a group that our allies overseas consider terrorists, creating a significant national security risk. In Canada, the Proud Boys is listed as a terrorist entity and a “neo-fascist” organization, and New Zealand designated it a terrorist organization and made it a crime to support or join the Proud Boys. The pardons send a clear message that some kinds of political violence are not only acceptable, but won’t be prosecuted. This will embolden violent actors in ways that put us all at risk.
History is a pretty good guide to what can happen when far-right extremists get pardons or acquittals for anti-government crimes. After an Arkansas jury acquitted 14 white supremacist extremists of seditious conspiracy in 1988, the unlawful, anti-government militia movement surged. Just a few years later, 168 people died at the hands of an anti-government, white supremacist extremist who bombed a government building in Oklahoma City.
There is little question that anti-government extremists are celebrating the release of violent actors they already deemed heroes, hostages and political prisoners.
One of the biggest questions that remains is how quickly that glee turns into entitled violence — the kind that comes from feeling that violence is not only an acceptable solution to political problems, but a preferable one. We are all at risk when violence is valorized and criminal acts are vindicated.
CLARIFICATION (Jan. 23, 2025, 11:08 a.m. E.T.): This piece has been updated to clarify that Enrique Tarrio received a pardon from President Trump for his actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
