Justice Department moves to toss seditious conspiracy convictions of
Oath Keepers and Proud Boys
[April 15, 2026]
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal
appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud
Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for
leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S.
Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in office over five years ago.
Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath
Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all
1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase
all the convictions for extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers
founder Stewart Rhodes, who didn't receive pardons last January.
The move to abandon the convictions represented a stunning reversal from
the Biden administration, which hailed the guilty verdicts as a crucial
victory in its bid to hold accountable those responsible for what
prosecutors described as an attack on the heart of American democracy.
It’s part of the Trump administration’s continued efforts to rewrite the
history of the Jan. 6 attack and downplay the violence carried out by
the mob of Trump supporters that left more than 100 police officers
injured.
In court filings, prosecutors asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions so that the
government can permanently dismiss the indictments.
“The government’s motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its
practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases
where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that
dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice — motions
that the Supreme Court routinely grants,” prosecutors wrote in a court
filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Juries in Washington, D.C., convicted the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers
leaders of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of
power after Trump's 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe
Biden.
The department's dismissal request also includes the convictions of Oath
Keepers members Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Jessica Watkins and
Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic
Pezzola.
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With the White House in the background, President Donald Trump
speaks at a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)
Other extremist group members, including former Proud Boys national
chairman Enrique Tarrio, received pardons from Trump on the first
day of his second term in the White House.
Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he and several
lieutenants were convicted in one of the most consequential cases
arising from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump
supporters.
Prosecutors said Rhodes and his followers stockpiled guns for
possible use by “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel,
but they never deployed the weapons.
Nordean's attorney, Nicholas Smith, said they are grateful to the
Justice Department for its “wise decision" in seeking dismissal of
the convictions.
“We don't want a precedent that says that any physical confrontation
between protesters and law enforcement means a crime akin to
treason, such as seditious conspiracy,” Smith said.
Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was dragged
into the mob and suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him
with a stun gun, was disappointed but not surprised by the latest
milestone in the dismantling of Capitol riot prosecutions.
“I would remind Americans that these were traitors to this country,"
Fanone said. “They planned, incited and carried out an
insurrection."
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