Trump said they were “hostages.” So what happens now to the January 6 cases?

Now that Trump has won, what will happen to these cases? Here are three things to know.

Few people may be more relieved by President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House than the more than 1,500 Americans charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

On the campaign trail, Trump often referred to those convicted and awaiting trial on January 6 as “political prisoners” and “hostages” and said he would pardon them if he won the 2024 election .

Among those convicted of serious crimes are leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys militias who are serving sentences for crimes including seditious conspiracy.

Trump himself was charged in a federal indictment for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, but Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is ending that case as well as ‘to a separate case after Trump’s victory last week.

A similar endgame could await the Jan. 6 trials against the defendants facing a range of misdemeanor and felony charges.

Now that Trump has won, what will happen to these cases? Here are three things to know.

How many cases are there?

There are several archives and databases that trace the January 6 prosecutions. One of them, published by National Public Radio, indicates that the total number of people charged with federal offenses stands at 1,542, as of November 8, 2024.

Of those, the database shows, 999 pleaded guilty and another 174 were found guilty of all charges, while 73 were found guilty of some charges. Only three people, by NPR’s count, have been acquitted.

In total, 1,030 of these defendants were convicted.

What are the most high-profile cases?

One of the most notorious cases is that against Henry “Enrique” Tarrio. The former leader of the Proud Boys activist group was convicted in May 2023 of crimes including seditious conspiracy. In September 2023, Tarrio, of Miami, was sentenced to 22 years in prison and three years of supervised release.

Another former member of the Proud Boys, Joseph Biggs of Ormond Beach, Florida, was sentenced to 17 years in prison in August 2023.

These convictions followed the conviction of the leaders of another extremist group, the Oath Keepers. In May 2023, Elmer Stewart Rhodes III of Texas, founder of the group, and Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers, were also convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges on January 6.

Another high-profile case involves brother and sister Jonathan Pollock and Olivia Pollock of Lakeland, Florida. The siblings traveled to Washington, D.C. in January 2021 for then-President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, federal prosecutors said. Following the attack, a grand jury indicted both men on charges including assault on police officers, violent entry, being in a restricted area and disorderly conduct.

Jonathan Pollock managed to avoid arrest and became a fugitive, according to media reports, while Olivia Pollock was arrested but released on bail and under a supervision program. But she turned off her GPS monitor and hid just before her court appearance in March 2023, the Justice Department said.

The Pollocks have been apprehended and are awaiting disposition of their case.

Why is this important?

The attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago shocked the world. A congressional committee released a 1,000-page report in December 2022 detailing what it calls an attempted coup led by Trump and his allies.

Since then, however, opinions on the day’s violence have divided along partisan lines.

A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted earlier this year found that 55% of voters said they believed the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol was an attack on American democracy and 43% said the Too much attention had been focused on the events of the day.

Some 86% of Democrats said the attack should not be forgotten and 72% of Republicans said it was time to move on.

In the 2024 election, the date of January 6 was one of the main reasons why voters were concerned about the fate of American democracy. According to an NBC News exit poll, 34 percent of voters said the state of democratic governance was their most pressing issue, followed by the economy at 31 percent.

Jacob Ware, co-author of the book “God, Guns and Sedition,” notes that organizations like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers were effectively “dismantled” by the Jan. 6 backlash and lawsuits. But the broader message, the broader hope that Jan. 6 can serve as an enduring deterrent to political violence and insurrection, has far less staying power.

“The deterrent factor of Jan. 6 that you thought was in place based on the charges involved has already been eroded,” Ware said. “People were punished for the crimes they committed, and that’s important from a criminal justice perspective.

“But whatever deterrence one might think of this case, the largest investigation in American history, would have been eroded by four years of rhetoric calling them warriors, heroes, patriots, political prisoners, martyrs. And so a grace would almost be a confirmation of that rather than something radical or different.

Trump has named figures within his Cabinet, including Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, who have denounced the Jan. 6 prosecutions, including the case against Trump.

Contributor: Gary White, Lakeland Ledger

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.