Many defendants are pinning their hopes on Trump’s repeated promises to issue pardons, though the details of how he will fulfill these pledges remain uncertain.

A group that calls itself a federal watchdog and “anti-lawfare legal group” is hosting a conference Monday to commemorate the anniversary and demand pardons for the nearly 1,600 defendants who have been charged, a sign of the pressure Trump is facing to deliver for them.

“The January 6 Community of persecuted patriots stands united in a single goal: to ensure every J6 Hostage is Pardoned by President Trump on Day One,” the group’s website states.

On the conference’s guest list are those from a right-wing faction of Trump’s base, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, influencer and defendant Isabella DeLuca, Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft, and Herneitha “Silk” Richardson of Diamond & Silk.

Another guest attending the panel is Jan. 6 defendant Daniel Goodwyn, a self-proclaimed Proud Boys member who received a 60-day prison term for briefly entering the U.S. Capitol and was subjected to internet monitoring by a judge who found he engaged in spreading misinformation.

I’m @DanielGoodwyn, San Francisco, California Patriot and J6 Political Hostage, Federal Inmate 27932509. We’re only accepting Trump J6 pardons if we ALL get them—regardless of the sham charges. No man left behind! Free ALL J6ers! Before we elected him, he promised them for Day 1! pic.twitter.com/HVCGXcyfJY

— Daniel Goodwyn (@DanielGoodwyn) November 12, 2024

“We’re only accepting Trump J6 pardons if we ALL get them—regardless of the sham charges,” Goodwyn said in a video posted to X in November. “No man left behind! Free ALL J6ers! Before we elected him, he promised them for Day 1!”

Jonathan Mellis, another member of the Proud Boys, is also among the group asking Trump to act swiftly. Facing up to 10 years in prison for his involvement in the riot, Mellis has implored Trump to pardon all Jan. 6 defendants, particularly high-profile figures such as Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, the former Proud Boys leader and Oath Keepers leader, respectively.

“Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes need to be pardoned, and every other J6 defendant needs to be pardoned too because we’ve been persecuted and treated inhumanely by a government that has been weaponized against patriots,” Mellis told the Washington Examiner.

Trump’s clemency strategy

While Trump has publicly pledged to issue pardons “on Day One,” his recent comments have suggested a more nuanced approach. In a Time interview, Trump said he would review cases individually, differentiating between nonviolent offenders and those who engaged in more extreme actions.

But Jan. 6 defendant Bunky Crawford speculated Trump or his advisers may not want to spend the time analyzing hours of riot footage for the nearly 1,600 defendants.

“Even my own family, my own parents, won’t take the time to just sit and really look at all the videos,” Crawford told the Washington Examiner. “The people that love me the most really won’t sit down and dissect these videos and really look at what happened.”

Crawford is scheduled to be sentenced this week and is one of several accused of assaulting police officers, though he contends he was acting in self-defense amid the chaotic riot.

Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project and a vocal advocate for the defendants, argued the importance of widespread clemency for the defendants, but he stopped short of saying every one of them should receive a pardon in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

Davis maintains that “nothing that happened on Jan. 6 calls for a 22-year prison sentence, especially when the Biden Justice Department essentially gave amnesty to the much more deadly and destructive BLM and ANTIFA rioters.”

“I have very publicly advised President Trump to pardon almost all Jan. 6 defendants and commute the sentences for those who were violent against police officers and similar bad acts to more reasonable sentences,” said Davis, who has touted himself as an unofficial “viceroy” to Trump.

Yet Trump’s public statements on this front leave many questions unanswered. Defense attorneys representing Jan. 6 defendants have expressed frustration over the lack of clear guidelines, particularly as they scramble to ensure their clients are included in any clemency grants.

Bill Shipley, a longtime attorney who has defended dozens of Jan. 6 defendants, told the Washington Examiner he believed most of his clients would be worthy of pardons based on their offenses. He said the sentiment among them was that they were optimistic but also uncertain.

“I don’t think anybody has any expectations,” Shipley said. “They’ve all paid attention to what President-elect Trump has said, and I think their expectation is he’s going to act consistent with what he said. What that actually entails is still a mystery.”

High-profile defendants

The cases of Tarrio and Rhodes, both convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to about two decades in prison each, have drawn significant attention. Tarrio, who was not present in Washington on Jan. 6, was convicted of leading efforts to incite violence. Rhodes was found guilty of plotting to bring weapons to the Capitol area, though he did not breach the building or engage in physical confrontations.

Tarrio’s attorney, Nayib Hassan, expressed optimism that his client would be considered for clemency.

“We look forward to what the future holds, both in terms of the judicial process for our client and the broader political landscape under the new administration,” Hassan said in a statement.

James Lee Bright, Rhodes’s attorney, has also said he believes his client deserves clemency. “The worst thing visually that the man did was take pictures,” Bright said, according to CNN. “If [Trump] is a man of his word, then with the swipe of a pen, that’s something he should do.”

Judicial pushback

The prospect of broad pardons has drawn criticism from judges who have overseen Jan. 6 cases. Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, recently rebuked attempts to portray the rioters as political prisoners, emphasizing their role in an “attempt to subvert the will of an electoral majority.”

At least 1,561 individuals have faced federal charges related to the riot. The majority have pleaded guilty or been convicted in trials, and about 645 have been sentenced to prison time. Many have already served their sentences, but a pardon could still benefit them because it would restore any civil rights they lost as a result of their charges.

Key Jan. 6 critic frets over Trump’s pardon plans

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the incoming ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, opposes Trump’s pardon plans, which would effectively undo one of the largest-scale and most resource-intensive prosecutions in Justice Department history.

The Maryland Democrat, who sat on the now-defunct Jan. 6 committee, said on a recent call with reporters that if Trump were to issue blanket pardons to categories of defendants, the president-elect would have no way to tell which defendants were remorseful and no longer a danger to the public, which, according to Raskin, is critical for clemency eligibility.

“If it is actually going to happen, people should demand a very specific accounting of how there is contrition and repentance on the part of each of the people being pardoned,” Raskin said.

“There should also be an affirmative statement that they pose no further threat to the public safety, because anything that happens by these people, whether it’s in a political context or some other context, will essentially be laid at the doorstep of soon-to-be President Donald Trump,” he said.