DOJ Moves to Erase Oath Keepers, Proud Boys Convictions Over J6

The Justice Department has moved to permanently erase the seditious conspiracy convictions of several top Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, marking one of the most consequential reversals yet in President Donald Trump’s second-term effort to dismantle the Biden-era prosecutions tied to that day.

In a major development Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the convictions vacated and sent the cases back to the district court as the Justice Department prepares to formally move for dismissal.

The request, filed by interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, would wipe away convictions against 12 high-profile defendants, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and several senior Proud Boys members.

The defendants affected by the move include Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Eduardo Vallejo, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola.

In court filings, the DOJ argued that dismissing the cases falls within the department’s prosecutorial discretion and is consistent with federal practice when the government determines that continuing a prosecution is no longer in the interests of justice.

“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,” prosecutors wrote in the filing signed by Pirro.

The move goes even further than President Trump’s sweeping clemency action on the first day of his second term in January 2025, when he pardoned or commuted sentences for more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants.

At the time, several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders received sentence commutations, but many convictions technically remained in place. The latest DOJ action seeks to erase those convictions entirely and could result in the indictments being dismissed with prejudice, preventing future prosecution on the same charges.

The reversal represents a sharp break from the Biden administration’s approach, which treated Jan. 6 prosecutions as a central pillar of its Justice Department.

Under Biden, prosecutors framed the cases as historic efforts to defend democratic institutions and punish those accused of trying to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

But conservatives have long argued that many Jan. 6 prosecutions were politically charged, excessively aggressive and used to create a legal framework that treated protest activity and clashes with police as something resembling treason.

Defense attorneys welcomed the DOJ’s decision.

Nicholas Smith, attorney for Proud Boys defendant Ethan Nordean, said the government made the “wise decision” to seek dismissal.

“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.

Critics of the move immediately condemned the decision, arguing that it rewrites the history of Jan. 6 and minimizes the violence that occurred at the Capitol.

Former Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, who suffered serious injuries during the riot, blasted the DOJ’s action.

“I would remind Americans that these were traitors to this country,” Fanone said. “They planned, incited and carried out an insurrection.”

Rhodes had originally been sentenced to 18 years in prison after prosecutors accused him and other Oath Keepers members of organizing armed “quick reaction force” teams outside Washington ahead of potential violence.

Prosecutors alleged the group stockpiled firearms at a Virginia hotel, though those weapons were never deployed inside the Capitol.

Several Proud Boys leaders, including Biggs, Nordean, and Rehl, were convicted after prosecutors argued they helped coordinate breaches of police lines and directed crowds during the Capitol riot.

Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio had already received a presidential pardon from Trump last year.

For President Trump’s supporters, the Justice Department’s move is likely to be seen as another step toward correcting what they view as the weaponization of federal law enforcement against political opponents and protesters on the right.

For critics, it will be framed as an extraordinary effort to unwind one of the most significant prosecution campaigns in modern Justice Department history.

Either way, the decision signals that the Trump administration is not merely granting clemency in Jan. 6 cases. It is now seeking to erase some of the most serious convictions altogether.

That makes this latest move one of the clearest signs yet that President Trump’s DOJ is taking direct aim at the legal legacy of the Biden administration’s Jan. 6 prosecutions.