What will happen to business as Trump returns to power

Perhaps most relieved about President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House are the more than 1,500 Americans charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

During his election campaign, Trump often referred to those convicted and awaiting trial on related charges as “political prisoners” and “hostages” and said he would pardon them if he won the 2024 elections.

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. Here in the Commonwealth, the first rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol, Kentuckian Michael Sparks, was sentenced to more than four years in prison in August of this year, and Sparks is just one of 24 people in least having ties to Kentucky arrested.

Trump himself was charged in a federal indictment for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, but Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith said he was ending to this case, as well as another separate case following Trump’s recent victory. 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’s what you need to know.

There are several archives and databases that trace the January 6 prosecutions. A list maintained by National Public Radio lists the total number of people charged with federal offenses at 1,542, as of November 8, 2024.

According to this database, 999 people have pleaded guilty. Another 174 people were found guilty of all charges, while 73 were found guilty of some of the charges. Only three people, by NPR’s count, have been acquitted.

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

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. However, 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.

Which high-profile January 6 riots involve Kentuckians?

At least 24 people with ties to Kentucky have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection.

A member of the Louisville militia posted in a chat room, “It’s time for good men to do bad things,” before taking part in the crime and federal prosecutors have decided that Daniel Edwin Wilson, 47, who had pleaded guilty to criminal charges earlier this year. , would go to prison for five years. He was charged with obstruction, one felony and four misdemeanors, including knowingly entering and remaining in any restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in any restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds and a parade, demonstration or picket at the Capitol. land.

Another, Sparks, allegedly entered the Capitol through a broken window and was charged with nine counts, including civil disorder. The Elizabethtown resident was convicted in March of several charges, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. He faces four years and five months in federal prison, where parole is not an option, according to court records.

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.

Contributors: Gary White, Lakeland Ledger, Beth Warren and Leo Bertucci