WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� the remnants of the government’s against far-right Proud Boys members who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to to keep President Donald Trump in the White House more than five years ago.
The case’s dismissal late Friday became a foregone conclusion when Trump last year used his to erase every case that the government prosecuted after a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge who presided over the Proud Boys leaders’ trial saw no basis to preserve the convictions after Trump’s sweeping act of clemency last year.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump nominated during his first term, said there is 鈥渓ittle mystery鈥� about why the second Trump administration decided to abandon this case and every other .
鈥淧resident Trump鈥檚 views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 鈥� whether those views are based on fact or fiction 鈥� are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them,鈥� Kelly wrote.
The judge stressed that his order should not be mistaken as an endorsement of the Department of Justice’s decision to abandon the case. He referred to the Capitol riot as 鈥渁 perilous event鈥� and an assault on the constitutional imperative for a peaceful transfer of power between presidents.
鈥淢oving forward, if this Nation鈥檚 experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people 鈥� no matter their partisan preferences 鈥� will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,鈥� Kelly wrote.
Juries in the nation’s capital separately convicted leaders of the Proud Boys and another extremist group, the antigovernment Oath Keepers, of to keep Trump, a Republican, in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
A different judge has not ruled yet on the Justice Department鈥檚 to throw out Oath Keepers’ seditious conspiracy convictions.
Friday’s ruling applied to four of five Proud Boys members who were Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. Trump commuted their prison sentences, but they were not covered by the president’s mass pardons.
Former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio was convicted at the same trial but received a pardon from Trump. Kelly had , the longest prison term in any Capitol riot case.
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