Trump pardons Jan. 6 defendant for separate gun offence, releasing him from prison

Violent insurrections loyal to U.S. President Donald Trump break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump issued a second pardon to a Jan. 6 defendant who had remained behind bars despite the sweeping grant of clemency for U.S. Capitol rioters because of a separate conviction for illegally possessing firearms.

The decision is the latest example of Trump’s willingness to use his constitutional authority to help supporters who once tried to keep him in power despite his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020.

Daniel Edwin Wilson was under investigation for his role in the riot when authorities found six guns and roughly 4,800 rounds of ammunition in his home. Because of prior felony convictions, it was illegal for him to possess firearms.

The charges became part of a legal debate over whether Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters applied to other crimes discovered during the sprawling federal dragnet that began after the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Trump-appointed federal judge who oversaw Wilson’s case criticized the Justice Department earlier this year for arguing that the president’s Jan. 6 pardons applied to Wilson’s gun offence.

Wilson, who had been scheduled to remain in prison until 2028, was released Friday evening following the pardon, his lawyer said on Saturday.

“We are grateful that President Trump has recognized the injustice in my client’s case and granted him this pardon,” attorney George Pallas said in an email. “Mr. Wilson can now reunite with his family and begin rebuilding his life.”

A White House official said Saturday that “because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of January 6, and they should have never been there in the first place, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson for the firearm issues.” The official requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the case.

Wilson had been sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to impede or injure police officers and illegally possessing firearms at his home.

Prosecutors had accused him of planning for the Jan. 6 riot for weeks and coming to Washington with the goal of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. Authorities said he communicated with members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group and adherents of the anti-government Three Percenters movement as he marched to the Capitol.

Prosecutors cited messages they argued showed that Wilson’s “plans were for a broader American civil war.” In one message on Nov. 9, 2020, he wrote: “I’m willing to do whatever. Done made up my mind. I understand the tip of the spear will not be easy. I’m willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. Whether it means prison or death.”

Wilson said at this sentencing that he regretted entering the Capitol that day but “got involved with good intentions.”

The Justice Department had initially argued in February that Trump’s pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day back in the White House didn’t extend to Wilson’s gun crime. The department later changed its position, saying it had received “further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon.”

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, criticized the department’s evolving position and said it was “extraordinary” that prosecutors were seeking to argue that Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons extended to illegal “contraband” found by investigators during searches related to the Jan. 6 cases.

Politico first reported Wilson’s pardon on Saturday.

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Alanna Durkin Richer And Chris Megerian, The Associated Press

Megerian reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.