The U.S. Department of Justice requested a federal appeals court to dismiss the seditious conspiracy convictions of leaders from the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers extremist groups. These leaders were convicted for inciting their members to attack the U.S. Capitol over five years ago in an attempt to keep then-President Donald Trump in office.
In January 2025, Trump granted clemency to several leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, among over 1,500 defendants charged in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The Justice Department now seeks to erase the convictions of these extremist group leaders, including Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers.
Prosecutors filed a request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions, allowing the government to permanently dismiss the indictments. This motion aligns with the government’s practice of seeking to vacate convictions in cases where dismissal is deemed in the interests of justice.
Following guilty verdicts by juries in Washington, D.C., the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders were convicted of orchestrating violent schemes to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power after Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
The decision to abandon these convictions marks a significant shift from the previous administration’s stance. It is seen as an attempt by the Trump administration to reshape the narrative of the January 6 attack and minimize the violence carried out by supporters of the former president, which resulted in injuries to over 100 police officers.
The Justice Department’s request for dismissal also applies to convictions of other members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, including Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola. Some members, such as Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys, received pardons from Trump at the beginning of his second term.
Stewart Rhodes, along with several associates, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for their involvement in one of the most pivotal cases arising from the Capitol attack. Prosecutors revealed that Rhodes and his followers had stored weapons at a Virginia hotel for potential use by “quick reaction force” teams, although the weapons were never deployed.
Nicholas Smith, representing Nordean, expressed gratitude to the Justice Department for its decision to seek dismissal of the convictions, highlighting the importance of not setting a precedent equating physical altercations between protesters and law enforcement with seditious conspiracy.
Former Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone criticized the move as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to distort the events of January 6. Fanone, who was attacked during the Capitol riot and suffered a heart attack, emphasized that those involved were traitors to the country who planned and carried out an insurrection.