Retired Air Force officer Larry Brock put on a tactical vest and helmet on Jan. 6, 2021, and illegally entered the U.S. Capitol Building, where he walked through the crypt and rotunda and eventually made his way to the Senate floor, where about 25 minutes earlier senators were gathered to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Brock, a former lieutenant colonel who served in Afghanistan, was carrying a pair of zip-tie handcuffs. He was arrested only four days later. Prosecutors said Brock believed the false conspiracy theory promoted by Donald Trump that he, not President Joe Biden, won the election in 2020. Before the Jan. 6 attack, Brock posted on social media about an insurrection and wrote, “We need to execute the traitors that are trying to steal the election,” The Associated Press reported.
Brock was convicted in 2022 of six crimes, including one felony of obstructing an official proceeding. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year about that particular felony, determining it must include proof of a defendant trying to tamper with or destroy documents – a decision that affected hundreds of Jan. 6 criminal cases, including Brock’s. He’s currently waiting to hear about the possibility of a retrial.
Now, Brock is among the wave of Jan. 6 defendants asking the courts to delay their cases until after Trump’s inauguration, expecting the incoming president to follow through on promises to pardon them. On the campaign trail this year, Trump referred to the people convicted for their participation on Jan. 6 as “hostages.” At a conference of the National Association of Black Journalists in July, he said they were convicted “by a very tough system.”
“Former President Trump explicitly campaigned on justice for the January 6 defendants,” wrote Brock’s attorney, Charles Burnham, in a Nov. 11 request to push their next meeting about Brock’s retrial from November to after Trump takes office on Jan. 20, 2025.
Of the approximately 1,400 people who have faced charges for their involvement in the Capitol breach, 222 have military backgrounds, according to data from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. That number includes two veterans convicted of orchestrating the attack, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers leader Stuart Rhodes. Tarrio was sentenced to 17 years in prison, and Rhodes received 22 years.
Both far-right extremist groups targeted veterans for recruitment, experts have said. Twenty-one of the veterans and service members charged for their roles on Jan. 6 were part of the Oath Keepers, and 27 were Proud Boys members, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
Joseph Biggs, an Army veteran and Proud Boys leader who was charged with Tarrio, is among those seeking relief from Trump. Biggs helped lead other Proud Boys members in their march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, where he tore through a fence and was among a group that pushed through police lines, according to prosecutors.
His attorney, Norm Pattis, wrote a letter that he’s trying to get into Trump’s hands, he told Military Times. In the letter, he argues that Biggs and other Jan. 6 defendants should be pardoned in the same way confederates were pardoned after the end of the Civil War, stating that the “broader public interest would be served.”
“Mr. President, the time for a pardon is past due,” the letter reads. “We ask you to make the pardon of Mr. Biggs a top priority in your administration. We make this appeal directly to you because we believe in the power of justice and the ability of a courageous leader to make a real and sustaining difference in American life.”
The attorneys for both Biggs and Brock claimed their clients’ military service was among the reasons they should receive full pardons. Burnham, Brock’s attorney, wrote in his motion that Brock had served his country honorably as an Air Force officer.
“We would go so far as to say there is not a single January 6 defendant whose treatment by the government was so far out of proportion to his or her service to the country,” Burnham wrote. “It is obvious that Larry Brock will be at the top of any pardon list.”
In his letter, Pattis said Biggs served with distinction and because of his conviction has been “deprived of a military pension that he risked his life in service of this country to earn.”
Some Jan. 6 defendants, as well as their supporters, celebrated Trump’s win on social media sites like Telegram, Gab and X. The group Proud Boys USA posted on Telegram, “FREE ENRIQUE TARRIO!!! FREE ALL J6 PRISONERS NOW!!! PARDON EVERYONE!!!” Another post read, “I cant wait to see all of these prisoners freed and vindicated. Next we take down and penalize everyone involved in persecuting these fine Patriots.”
In a call from jail that aired on MSNBC last year, Biggs said, “I do believe Donald J. Trump will pardon us, and he should. We didn’t do anything. We’re his supporters. We went there when he asked.”
It remains uncertain whether Trump will follow through on his promises to pardon Jan. 6 defendants, or how he might go about it. The Constitution gives the president the power to grant full pardons, which completely expunge legal punishments for criminal convictions. Presidents can also grant commutations, which reduce penalties from convictions.
Presidents can issue sweeping pardons, which grant clemency to groups of people all at once. However, since Trump’s election, his transition team has told multiple news outlets Trump would handle pardons on a case-by-case basis.
Extremism prevention experts have expressed concern about the potential pardons, arguing they could embolden people to commit political violence.
“Pardoning the January 6 participants will make a mockery of our justice system, and it will send the message to his followers that violence is a legitimate response to political outcomes they don’t like,” the Global Project on Hate and Extremism said in a statement.
This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to [email protected].
Nikki Wentling covers disinformation and extremism for Military Times. She’s reported on veterans and military communities for eight years and has also covered technology, politics, health care and crime. Her work has earned multiple honors from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors and others.
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