The administration of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, asked this Tuesday before a federal appeals court that the convictions against four leaders of a far-right militia be annulled for their participation in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and that the case be definitively dismissed.
In a brief presented by the Department of Justice before a court in Washington, the Trump Executive insists that the convictions must be annulled and returned to the lower court with an order to close the process “with prejudice”, which would prevent its reopening in the future.
The document refers to the defendants already convicted for their role in the events that occurred at the United States Capitol in January 2021, who also received controversial commutations of their sentences in 2025 by Trump when he returned to the White House.
The judicial brief refers to the four convicts: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, identified by the US authorities as key figures within the organizational structure of the group, known as the ‘Proud Boys’, prosecuted for the assault on the Capitol.
Since his return to the White House in 2025, Trump promoted benefits for those convicted of the assault on the Capitol, including the granting of pardons and commutations to nearly 1,500 people linked to the events of January 6, 2021, which allowed the release or reduction of sentences of the majority of those involved.
According to an investigation by National Public Radio (NPR), the Trump administration attempted to delete records of the events of January 6, 2021.
According to the outlet, which has suffered cuts in government funding as part of the administration’s crusade against the press, the Department of Justice would have removed terms such as “riot” or “riot” from the documents related to the assault, and fired dozens of prosecutors who participated in the proceedings.
On the fifth anniversary of the attack last January, Trump himself referred to the participants as “great patriots” who were “assaulted by the government” and avoided describing them as “insurrectionists,” the term used by the Democratic opposition.
According to the civil rights group CREW, more than thirty pardoned attackers have been arrested again on other criminal charges ranging from sexual abuse of minors, possession of child pornography, illegal possession of weapons, disorderly conduct and breaking and entering to threats against the lives of public figures, in this case the leader of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries.
