More than a dozen people identified by the previous administration as members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and arrested for involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riot were pardoned this week by President Donald Trump.

Four years after they raided the Capitol and assaulted police officers, a group of some of the most violent Jan. 6 rioters are now free men.

Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, who received some of longest sentences for the US Capitol attack, freed from prison.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, one of the most infamous Capitol rioters, was spotted in a congressional office building on Wednesday, just days after being set free by President Trump.

The return of battle-hardened leaders ... will further radicalize and fuel recruitment platforms,” said Jacob Ware, a Council on Foreign Relations research fellow.

Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio were among the most prominent January 6 defendants had received some of the harshest punishments.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who graduated from UNLV and was involved in the 2014 Bundy ranch standoff, had his 18-year prison sentence commuted by Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The former leader of the Proud Boys and the founder of the Oath Keepers have been released from prison after their lengthy sentences for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol were wiped away by a sweeping order from President Donald Trump benefiting more than 1,500 defendants.

Five of the Oath Keepers who had sentences commuted by the president -- including Rhodes, who was facing 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy -- were military veterans.

Rhodes was found guilty of orchestrating a weekslong plot that culminated in his followers attacking the US Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Trump in power.

Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in May 2023 after a jury found him guilty of conspiring to stop the transfer of power and other charges. In September 2023, Tarrio, who asked Trump for a full pardon on the fourth anniversary of the insurrection, was sentenced to 22 years.

The Florida context From Florida Phoenix When States Newsroom summarized the 334-word Jan. 6 pardon proclamation and underscored that it was highly publicized by major news outlets, Rick Scott replied “I haven’t looked at the executive order yet.