Some rioters charged or convicted in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol are returning to Washington, D.C., for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to court filings in a dozen cases and multiple sources familiar with the matter.But some federal judges also recently blocked a handful of other Jan. 6 defendants from attending the inauguration, agreeing with Justice Department prosecutors who argued that letting the rioters “return to the scene of the crime” could put police officers in danger.Members of the Jan. 6 community – who hold nightly vigils at the D.C. jail that houses some defendants – have already secured official inauguration tickets, according to multiple sources, and are tapping allies in Trump’s orbit to solicit additional tickets. At least one rioter was invited by members of Congress.Most of the defendants coming to D.C. to celebrate Trump were only charged with misdemeanors. But others, like William Pope of Kansas, are facing felonies. Pope pleaded not guilty to civil disorder and obstructing an official proceeding, for blocking police from closing off some doors near the Senate.“I think it’ll be a neat and historical moment,” Pope said in an interview with CNN. “In a way, coming full circle. With some appropriate symbolism. There are some other people I know that are going to be there. Some folks from Twitter want to say hello. Hopefully, I’ll run into a few friendly faces.”Trump has promised to pardon many of the nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants, and said he intends to take action on his first day in office, though he has not offered more specifics. The triumphant return to D.C. of even a small cadre of Capitol rioters has outraged prosecutors, judges, and police officers who defended democracy that day.Former U.S. Capitol Police Staff Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was wounded during the attack and is now an outspoken Trump critic, called the return of some rioters “another betrayal.”“These are the same people who claim to be on the side of the rule of law, yet they attack us,” Gonell told CNN in a statement. “They are getting a chance to return to their crime scenes to gloat. They want to be there to be pardoned at the place where they committed their crimes, and be seen as heroes and honorable. That can’t further from the truth.”Video below: Tech CEOs slated to appear at Trump’s inaugurationAn ‘immense privilege’ – not a rightNearly 1,600 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, including at least 600 with serious felony offenses like assaulting police or using a weapon. About 80% of all cases have resulted in guilty pleas or trial convictions, and a couple hundred defendants are currently in prison, according to the latest Justice Department estimates.Criminal defendants that face travel restrictions require judicial approval before a major trip. At least 11 people charged or convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection have asked federal judges to let them attend Trump’s inauguration, according to a CNN review of court records. Seven of these rioters were granted permission, while four were turned down.“To attend the Presidential Inauguration, which celebrates and honors the peaceful transfer of power, is an immense privilege,” Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in a ruling this month, rejecting a travel request from convicted rioter Russell Taylor. “It would not be appropriate for the Court to grant permission to attend such a hallowed event to someone who carried weapons and threatened police officers in an attempt to thwart the last Inauguration.”Taylor pleaded guilty to conspiring with fellow right-wing Three Percenters to obstruct Congress’ election certification. He cooperated against his co-defendants and avoided jail.In court filings, Taylor said he and his family were invited to the inauguration by former Utah Rep. Chris Stewart, who left office in 2023 but wrote in a letter that he was extending the invite along with “three other current members” of Utah’s U.S. House delegation. Stewart described Taylor as a “man of integrity and faith” and praised “his love of our Country.”‘A danger to the D.C. community’Federal judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents have both approved and rejected these requests. Notably, Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presided over the federal 2020 election subversion case against Trump that was dismissed after the election, recently allowed a nonviolent rioter from Missouri to attend the inauguration.Federal prosecutors from the Justice Department, which has continued bringing charges against new rioters, has largely opposed these requests in court.Rioters coming to Trump’s inauguration “presents a danger to the D.C. community,” they wrote. Prosecutors said letting Pope, the rioter from Kansas, return to the Capitol grounds “could put him face to face with the officers that he resisted four years ago and place him in the same circumstance in which he already demonstrated a disregard for the law.”In letting Pope come to D.C., the judge noted he “is not charged with assault or vandalism.”Pope told CNN he was invited to the inauguration by someone tied to “Trump world” that he declined to identify. He also said he’s expecting his criminal case – currently slated for a June trial – will “go away quite quickly” after Trump takes power and grants mass clemency.“Whether or not we get Greenland probably isn’t my biggest priority right now. It’s the Jan. 6 issues,” Pope said.Help from the Jan. 6 communitySome leaders of the Jan. 6 support movement appear to be organizing efforts to bring some of the rioters and their families to D.C. to celebrate Trump’s return to the White House.Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by a police officer while she tried to break into the entryway to House chamber on Jan. 6, publicly said at one of the nightly vigils near the D.C. jail she had a recent phone call with Trump.One convicted felony rioter, James Grant, said in filings that he hoped to attend Trump’s inauguration and stay at a D.C. home rented by the wife of an incarcerated rioter who is a regular presence at events and vigils supporting Jan. 6 defendants.A judge rejected Grant’s request, and rebuked him for continuing to affiliate with people who baselessly describe the rioters as “political prisoners” or “hostages,” as Trump often does.“The notion that convicted Jan. 6 defendants are ‘political prisoners’ or ‘hostages’ is preposterous,” Judge Jia Cobb wrote in her ruling. “Mr. Grant’s association with such a view undermines any notion of remorse that the Court would want to see to modify Mr. Grant’s conditions of release to allow him to return to the U.S. Capitol or the District of Columbia.”CNN has reached out to Grant’s attorney seeking comment.‘The rule of law has been vindicated’Many of the rioters expect that in addition to the inauguration festivities, they’ll be in D.C. to celebrate the moment that Trump officially grants pardons, likely on Monday afternoon.In an interview with CNN on Thursday, the U.S. attorney for D.C., whose office prosecuted the Jan. 6 cases, said he opposed pardons and that clemency doesn’t erase the history.“Even if there are pardons… that doesn’t undermine the prosecutions,” outgoing U.S. attorney Matthew Graves said. “There has been a historical record created; the rule of law has been vindicated. A pardon does not wipe away what occurred.”Even though only a small number of January defendants are expected at the inauguration on Monday, the symbolism still stings for Gonell, the former Capitol Police officer.“The irony is that many officers who they fought against on Jan. 6 will be there protecting and securing the event, regardless of how they feel,” Gonell said.
Some rioters charged or convicted in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol are returning to Washington, D.C., for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to court filings in a dozen cases and multiple sources familiar with the matter.
But some federal judges also recently blocked a handful of other Jan. 6 defendants from attending the inauguration, agreeing with Justice Department prosecutors who argued that letting the rioters “return to the scene of the crime” could put police officers in danger.
Members of the Jan. 6 community – who hold nightly vigils at the D.C. jail that houses some defendants – have already secured official inauguration tickets, according to multiple sources, and are tapping allies in Trump’s orbit to solicit additional tickets. At least one rioter was invited by members of Congress.
Most of the defendants coming to D.C. to celebrate Trump were only charged with misdemeanors. But others, like William Pope of Kansas, are facing felonies. Pope pleaded not guilty to civil disorder and obstructing an official proceeding, for blocking police from closing off some doors near the Senate.
“I think it’ll be a neat and historical moment,” Pope said in an interview with CNN. “In a way, coming full circle. With some appropriate symbolism. There are some other people I know that are going to be there. Some folks from Twitter want to say hello. Hopefully, I’ll run into a few friendly faces.”
Trump has promised to pardon many of the nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants, and said he intends to take action on his first day in office, though he has not offered more specifics. The triumphant return to D.C. of even a small cadre of Capitol rioters has outraged prosecutors, judges, and police officers who defended democracy that day.
Former U.S. Capitol Police Staff Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was wounded during the attack and is now an outspoken Trump critic, called the return of some rioters “another betrayal.”
“These are the same people who claim to be on the side of the rule of law, yet they attack us,” Gonell told CNN in a statement. “They are getting a chance to return to their crime scenes to gloat. They want to be there to be pardoned at the place where they committed their crimes, and be seen as heroes and honorable. That can’t further from the truth.”
Video below: Tech CEOs slated to appear at Trump’s inauguration
An ‘immense privilege’ – not a right
Nearly 1,600 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, including at least 600 with serious felony offenses like assaulting police or using a weapon. About 80% of all cases have resulted in guilty pleas or trial convictions, and a couple hundred defendants are currently in prison, according to the latest Justice Department estimates.
Criminal defendants that face travel restrictions require judicial approval before a major trip. At least 11 people charged or convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection have asked federal judges to let them attend Trump’s inauguration, according to a CNN review of court records. Seven of these rioters were granted permission, while four were turned down.
“To attend the Presidential Inauguration, which celebrates and honors the peaceful transfer of power, is an immense privilege,” Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in a ruling this month, rejecting a travel request from convicted rioter Russell Taylor. “It would not be appropriate for the Court to grant permission to attend such a hallowed event to someone who carried weapons and threatened police officers in an attempt to thwart the last Inauguration.”
Taylor pleaded guilty to conspiring with fellow right-wing Three Percenters to obstruct Congress’ election certification. He cooperated against his co-defendants and avoided jail.
In court filings, Taylor said he and his family were invited to the inauguration by former Utah Rep. Chris Stewart, who left office in 2023 but wrote in a letter that he was extending the invite along with “three other current members” of Utah’s U.S. House delegation. Stewart described Taylor as a “man of integrity and faith” and praised “his love of our Country.”
‘A danger to the D.C. community’
Federal judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents have both approved and rejected these requests. Notably, Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presided over the federal 2020 election subversion case against Trump that was dismissed after the election, recently allowed a nonviolent rioter from Missouri to attend the inauguration.
Federal prosecutors from the Justice Department, which has continued bringing charges against new rioters, has largely opposed these requests in court.
Rioters coming to Trump’s inauguration “presents a danger to the D.C. community,” they wrote. Prosecutors said letting Pope, the rioter from Kansas, return to the Capitol grounds “could put him face to face with the officers that he resisted four years ago and place him in the same circumstance in which he already demonstrated a disregard for the law.”
In letting Pope come to D.C., the judge noted he “is not charged with assault or vandalism.”
Pope told CNN he was invited to the inauguration by someone tied to “Trump world” that he declined to identify. He also said he’s expecting his criminal case – currently slated for a June trial – will “go away quite quickly” after Trump takes power and grants mass clemency.
“Whether or not we get Greenland probably isn’t my biggest priority right now. It’s the Jan. 6 issues,” Pope said.
Help from the Jan. 6 community
Some leaders of the Jan. 6 support movement appear to be organizing efforts to bring some of the rioters and their families to D.C. to celebrate Trump’s return to the White House.
Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by a police officer while she tried to break into the entryway to House chamber on Jan. 6, publicly said at one of the nightly vigils near the D.C. jail she had a recent phone call with Trump.
One convicted felony rioter, James Grant, said in filings that he hoped to attend Trump’s inauguration and stay at a D.C. home rented by the wife of an incarcerated rioter who is a regular presence at events and vigils supporting Jan. 6 defendants.
A judge rejected Grant’s request, and rebuked him for continuing to affiliate with people who baselessly describe the rioters as “political prisoners” or “hostages,” as Trump often does.
“The notion that convicted Jan. 6 defendants are ‘political prisoners’ or ‘hostages’ is preposterous,” Judge Jia Cobb wrote in her ruling. “Mr. Grant’s association with such a view undermines any notion of remorse that the Court would want to see to modify Mr. Grant’s conditions of release to allow him to return to the U.S. Capitol or the District of Columbia.”
CNN has reached out to Grant’s attorney seeking comment.
‘The rule of law has been vindicated’
Many of the rioters expect that in addition to the inauguration festivities, they’ll be in D.C. to celebrate the moment that Trump officially grants pardons, likely on Monday afternoon.
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, the U.S. attorney for D.C., whose office prosecuted the Jan. 6 cases, said he opposed pardons and that clemency doesn’t erase the history.
“Even if there are pardons… that doesn’t undermine the prosecutions,” outgoing U.S. attorney Matthew Graves said. “There has been a historical record created; the rule of law has been vindicated. A pardon does not wipe away what occurred.”
Even though only a small number of January defendants are expected at the inauguration on Monday, the symbolism still stings for Gonell, the former Capitol Police officer.
“The irony is that many officers who they fought against on Jan. 6 will be there protecting and securing the event, regardless of how they feel,” Gonell said.
