Jan. 6 defendants returning to Capitol sparks concern from lawmakers

Ryan Tarinelli and Justin Papp, CQ-Roll Call on Mar 6, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Some members of Congress have expressed a mix of frustration, fear and outrage at the recent string of Capitol Hill appearances from figures associated with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, after a sweeping clemency order from President Donald Trump.

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of right-wing anti-government group the Oath Keepers who was convicted on charges related to the attack, was spotted in the Dunkin’ Donuts inside the Longworth House Office Building shortly after he was released from prison because of Trump’s actions.

Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader who also went to prison on charges related to the attack, spoke at a press conference last month on Capitol grounds and then was arrested by Capitol Police after an altercation with a counter protester.

And in a separate instance, a former Jan. 6 defendant posted on social media about attending a Senate confirmation hearing for FBI Director Kash Patel, including a photo of lawmakers inside a Senate committee room.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, called Jan. 6 rioters who injured police officers “thugs” and criticized Trump’s pardoning of people who committed violence against police.

“I guarantee if they come on to this Capitol grounds, and I know they’re here and they’re spiking the football without an apology, I will track them down and make them feel like some of our members did on January the 6th. There is no place for it, no place whatsoever,” Tillis said.

Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., the ranking member on the House Administration Committee, said the presence of Jan. 6 defendants on the Hill “says volumes about what they intend to do.”

“They want people to know who they are. They want to frighten people,” Morelle said.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California said the defendants want to make it personal. “They want to be here, they want the spotlight and the attention,” Aguilar said. “And Donald Trump has given them that.”

Their appearances, on the same campus where rioters violently stormed the Capitol in Trump’s name in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, underscore how some Jan. 6 figures have not shied away from the limelight since the clemency order from Trump.

Morelle said lawmakers and Capitol Police were monitoring Jan. 6 defendants returning to Capitol Hill. He and Aguilar also expressed concern about the presence of pardoned individuals back in home districts, where some had previously committed violent crimes.

Rep. Norma J. Torres, D-Calif., who was part of the “Gallery Group” of members trapped in the House balcony during the Capitol riot, suggested a stronger response.

“I think that we should be very aggressive and assertive at seeking injunctions against them,” Torres said.

A spokesperson for the Capitol Police declined to comment when asked if any restraining orders or injunctions had been requested against Jan. 6 defendants. The department also noted it had the ability to issue barring notices to keep individuals away from Congress.

“The Department issues barring notices based upon specific behavior that would give us an immediate concern for safety and security,” the spokesperson said. “We work hard to protect people’s First Amendment rights, so barring notices are only issued with strong justification and are typically valid for one year.”

Former House General Counsel Thomas Hungar said Capitol Police have broad authority to protect people and property at the Capitol and on Capitol grounds, under the direction of the Capitol Police Board and leadership in both chambers.

That includes the ability to prevent access for members of the public, Hungar wrote in an email response to questions. But he said a blank policy excluding a group of individuals with a “shared political viewpoint would raise serious concerns under the First Amendment.”

“A neutral policy of general applicability, for example, a rule barring from the Capitol anyone who previously committed an act of violence against a law enforcement official, could be upheld as justified by security concerns,” Hungar wrote.

Hungar also said full pardon recipients could argue “that it would be improper to deny them access based solely on that now-pardoned conviction.”

Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, teed off on the recent presence of the notorious Jan. 6 figures, saying they are not stopping in their assault on the Capitol.

“This has got to come to an end,” Durbin said at a committee hearing last week. “Democrats and Republicans have to stand up for the men and women who are risking their lives to keep us safe every day and to say to these people who were pardoned by President Trump: Please take your press conferences someplace else. We don’t want them here in this Capitol.”

“It’s essential that we move in that direction and do it quickly,” Durbin said, adding that lawmakers should “speak out against this insulting, harassing conduct.”