Former Capitol Officers Blast DOJ Tossing Jan. 6 Convictions | EUROtoday

For individuals who defended the U.S. Capitol from a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department’s try to wipe away convictions for Oath Keepers and Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy for his or her position within the rebellion is a damning indictment of simply how far the establishment has fallen.

“It was bullshit,” former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn stated.

“Instead of praising the actions of the first responders for protecting elected officials on Jan. 6, Trump and his administration continue their assault on the truth,” former U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell stated.

Julie Farnam, who served as assistant director of intelligence for the U.S. Capitol Police throughout Jan. 6, stated the DOJ’s transfer is proof of “an erosion of laws generally” in America. Farnam stated she had warned division superiors days upfront, telling them that extremists have been headed to D.C. and deliberate to focus on Congress, and that her warnings have been ignored.

“What incentive is there to play by the book?” she stated. “I think people who have nefarious intentions are kind of thinking the same thing, and a lot of people will feel now they can get away with bad things, especially in the political realm and politically motivated violence.”

The Justice Department on Tuesday requested a federal appeals courtroom to toss out convictions for onetime Oath Keepers chief Elmer Rhodes and Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, Proud Boys chief. Tarrio obtained a pardon from Trump final yr and had his 22-year jail sentence commuted. Rhodes didn’t obtain a full pardon, however Trump commuted his 18-year sentence. If the federal appeals courtroom goes together with the Justice Department’s request, it could wipe the slate clear for each males.

The DOJ’s transfer got here only a day earlier than a courtroom listening to was scheduled, throughout which the Proud Boys would have made their case for the attraction, and the DOJ would have needed to argue that the Proud Boys’ earlier expenses ought to stand. Attorneys for the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys didn’t reply to HuffPost’s requests for remark. The Justice Department additionally didn’t reply to a number of requests by HuffPost for remark.

In a put up on X, the Justice Department celebrated the choice, saying: “This ends these years-long, Biden-era weaponized prosecutions. President Trump demanded we stop the two-tiered injustice — and we are delivering. No more rigged system.”

Turning its again on the earlier convictions and stopping that listening to quick permits the Justice Department to “save face,” stated Dunn, who’s now operating for Congress.

“Now the DOJ doesn’t have to address the appeal, and in that sense, it saves them from being able to have to lie and possibly get disbarred [later for lying],” Dunn stated. “This isn’t about justice or setting the record straight. I think the DOJ is doing this specifically so they don’t have to hear the appeal. This is so they don’t have to lie or talk bad about Donald Trump.”

Neither Dunn nor Gonell have been essentially shocked by the DOJ’s transfer, as Trump and his allies in Congress have systematically downplayed the assault that marred the nation’s excellent document for peaceable transfers of energy, left over 140 law enforcement officials badly injured, and resulted within the deaths of others. Gonell himself fought off over 40 rioters and was so badly harm that he was compelled into retirement.

Both Rhodes and Tarrio have been convicted of seditious conspiracy after months-long trials the place jurors have been uncovered to in depth proof, together with witness testimony and surveillance and police bodycam footage. Jurors realized how Oath Keepers established an enormous arsenal of weapons at a lodge simply outdoors Washington, D.C., for a “quick reaction force” and the way Rhodes known as on Trump to faucet his militia to help in rebellion. The Proud Boys had spent months recruiting folks to their group earlier than members stormed into D.C to incite violence, in keeping with witness testimony and communications from the Proud Boys themselves.

The try to take away expenses from the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers goes in opposition to the administration’s claims that it’s essentially powerful on crime, Gonell stated.

“If this administration really supports the police, law and order and the rule of law, it wouldn’t be fighting so hard to rewrite or erase the violent history of the attack on our democracy and my colleagues,” Gonell stated.

But the Justice Department underneath Trump has seemingly deserted a lot of what it achieved in its sprawling Jan. 6 probe throughout Joe Biden’s administration.

Jan. 6 prosecutors have been fired on the DOJ. Others who introduced legal circumstances in opposition to Trump have been purged or demoted. Last May, the Justice Department paid the household of Jan. 6 rioter Ashley Babbitt a $5 million settlement after Babbitt was fatally shot by an officer when she tried to climb via a smashed window within the Speaker’s Lobby.

Tarrio and fellow Proud Boys sued the United States final yr, too, demanding $100 million and alleging that their prosecutions have been vindictive. A choose dismissed the declare however left a door open for them to refile. They have till the tip of the month to take action. Other Jan. 6 rioters, additionally together with Proud Boys, filed a class-action lawsuit in opposition to Capitol police, claiming they have been “indiscriminately” hit with chemical munitions and that police used “excessive force” in opposition to them on the Capitol that day.

If these lawsuits succeed, Dunn stated it’s vital that folks keep in mind who pays for these settlements.

“Who paid for Ashli Babbitt’s settlement money? It came from the government. Who pays for their lawyers? That $100 million the Proud Boys are seeking, that will be coming from the government if they win. They’re suing Capitol Police for treating them badly. That will come from taxpayer money. That’s what people need to understand: who is paying for this. It’s the people reading this right now,” Dunn stated.

“We have paid for it in anger, anguish and gaslighting and physical pain,” he added. “We’ve dealt with that, but the American public now has to deal with the pain financially. “

Dunn then went on to note: “This gaslighting happens weekly. For a group of people — the Republicans and Jan. 6 apologists and MAGA Republicans — who want to move on from Jan. 6, they sure keep bringing it up.”

Farnam, who additionally spent 15 years on the Department of Homeland Security earlier than she joined the U.S. Capitol Police, advised HuffPost she is worried about how the Justice Department’s remedy of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys would possibly stoke extra extremism or political violence.

With Trump in workplace, she stated, far-right extremists don’t “have to be in the shadows anymore.”

Farnam added, “They have been fully embraced.”

The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers aren’t as outstanding as they have been throughout Trump’s first time period, however Farnam stated their ways have seemingly impressed others.

Threats to members of Congress, their households, workers and the Capitol constructing itself have elevated. In 2024, the company reported roughly 9,400 threats. In 2025, that quantity jumped to only underneath 15,000.

“We’ve seen it directed at Democrats,” Farnam stated. “We’ve seen it directed at Republicans. … People feel empowered to be able to do bad things because they think they will have support, they will be a hero, even if they are picked up and charged.”