When Ryan Nichols stood outside the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 with a bullhorn and a crowbar, he didn’t bother to hide his intentions. “It’s going to be violent,” he declared on video, according to court records, and then made good on it, assaulting police officers and urging the mob to breach the building.
He was eventually convicted and sentenced to more than five years in federal prison. But that was before Donald Trump gave him a pardon.
Last Sunday, Nichols was arrested outside a church in Harleton, Texas, on charges of deadly conduct and harassment after allegedly cornering a man who was holding a Bible, lifting his shirt, and placing his hand on the grip of a firearm until the victim said he feared for his life.
According to a new report by The Guardian, Nichols is the fifth pardoned January 6 defendant to be accused of a new crime since Donald Trump granted sweeping clemency to more than 1,500 insurrectionists on his first day back in office.
According to data compiled by the government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and detailed in a January 2026 report from Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, at least 33 pardoned rioters have been rearrested, charged, or sentenced for other crimes since January 6, 2021 — four of whom allegedly reoffended after receiving their pardons.
Blanket immunity for criminals
The others are no better. Christopher Moynihan, one of the first rioters to breach police barricades on January 6, was charged in October 2025 with a felony count of making a terroristic threat after allegedly sending messages saying he planned to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at a scheduled public appearance in New York City. The same Jeffries, mind you, who is always butting heads with Trump to preserve a measure of sanity in this administration.
Trump branded his executive order a “great thing for humanity,” and his response to this emerging pattern is about what you’d expect from the man.
When asked about the Moynihan arrest, he shrugged it off and said: “No, you have thousands of people who we’re dealing with and if one goes haywire.” (per USA Today)
The broader numbers tell the same story. The House Judiciary Democrats’ report notes that at least 159 of those pardoned had prior criminal records before January 6, including one individual — Peter Schwartz — with 38 prior convictions stretching back to 1991, including assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence.
There was a time we would’ve considered that the kind of scandal that ends a presidency. But now that we know Trump is offering his yes-men blanket immunity to do his bidding, the only real surprise is that anyone’s surprised.
