U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro just filed motions to vacate the convictions and dismiss the indictments — with prejudice — against twelve January 6 defendants, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs. “With prejudice” means they can never be charged again. Done. Finished. The Biden DOJ’s crown jewel prosecutions are heading straight for the dumpster.
Welcome to clown world — except we’re finally the ones running the circus.
We need to talk about what actually happened here, because the media is going to spin this into “Trump lets dangerous insurrectionists walk free” faster than you can say “mostly peaceful protest.” These men were hit with seditious conspiracy — a Civil War-era statute that hadn’t been dusted off in decades — because Biden’s DOJ needed a headline scarier than “trespassing” to justify treating political protesters like al-Qaeda operatives.
Stewart Rhodes got 18 years. Eighteen. Years. Ethan Nordean? Also 18. Joseph Biggs got 17. Zachary Rehl got 15. For walking into a building that the Capitol Police literally held the doors open for. Meanwhile, the fine citizens who torched police precincts in Minneapolis and caused $2 billion in damage during the “Summer of Love” got community service and GoFundMe pages.
(But sure, tell us again about the “sacred halls of democracy.”)
Rhodes called the DOJ’s move “very good news” and speculated that the government wanted out because seditious conspiracy is “a very legally vulnerable statute” that’s “overbroad and vague.” Translation: Biden’s attack dogs knew they’d lose on appeal, so Trump’s DOJ is pulling the plug before the courts do it for them and set a precedent that makes the statute unusable. Smart move.
Rhodes also pointed out something we’ve been screaming about for years — this is a statute from the 1860s. “I don’t believe it passes muster constitutionally,” he said. No kidding. The last time seditious conspiracy charges actually stuck was against a bunch of Puerto Rican nationalists who shot up Congress in 1954. But Biden’s DOJ thought, hey, let’s use it on guys in Viking helmets. Brilliant legal strategy.
Zachary Rehl — the Proud Boy who got 15 years — told Blaze News he’s “excited to finally move on from January 6” and that his family is “looking forward to rebuilding our lives again.” Rebuilding. Because the federal government destroyed them. Took years of their lives. Bankrupted their families. All to send a message to anyone who might think about supporting the wrong political candidate.
Norm Pattis, the attorney for Joseph Biggs, was characteristically blunt: he’s “delighted to see the Justice Department throw in the towel” and said they “should have done that years ago.” He also wants Biggs’ military pension restored. Biggs is a Purple Heart combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, by the way — a detail the media conveniently forgot to mention while they were calling him a domestic terrorist.
(A Purple Heart recipient rotting in federal prison for walking through the Capitol while actual carjackers in D.C. get released the same afternoon. That was Biden’s America.)
But here’s where the “skeptical” part comes in. Trump commuted these sentences back in January 2025, which got them out of prison but left the convictions on their records. A commutation is like telling someone, “You’re free to go, but we still think you’re guilty.” These motions would wipe the slate clean entirely — IF the courts approve them. Pattis isn’t holding his breath. “I’m not at all counting on relief,” he said. “I still think this ends up back on the president’s desk for a full pardon.”
Defense attorney Nicholas Smith nailed the bigger picture: “It is good for everyone of all political persuasions that sedition charges are not used for protests that turn into riots.” Read that again. Because the precedent Biden’s DOJ was trying to set wasn’t just about January 6 — it was about criminalizing political dissent at the felony level. Today it’s Proud Boys. Tomorrow it’s anyone who shows up to a school board meeting with a little too much enthusiasm.
The DOJ’s official statement said this action “ends these years-long, Biden-era weaponized prosecutions” and that “President Trump demanded we stop the two-tiered injustice — and we are delivering.” And for once, that’s not just talk. They actually filed the paperwork.
Carolyn Stewart, the attorney for Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs, said she’s “pleased that the DOJ finally admitted there should be no further prosecution of my innocent client.” Finally admitted. Those two words carry about four years of fury in them.
We spent the last half-decade watching Biden’s Justice Department operate like a political enforcement arm of the DNC. They threw grandmas in prison for praying outside abortion clinics. They sicced the FBI on parents at school board meetings. They used a Civil War treason statute against guys whose most dangerous weapon was a flagpole. And the entire corporate media cheered them on like it was the Nuremberg Trials.
Well, Jeanine Pirro just pulled the rug out from under all of it. Twelve convictions headed for the trash. Charges dismissed with prejudice. Records wiped clean.
The only question left is whether Trump finishes the job with full pardons for every last January 6 defendant — or whether some of these guys are going to spend the rest of their lives explaining a federal conviction on job applications because the courts dragged their feet. We’ve seen the right thing started. Now we need to see it finished.