Sep 8, 2026 · 32 min · 10 segments
Before you press play, host John Carlos Frey wants you to know what this episode is. More than a year ago, a source he's worked with for close to 15 years — someone who has never once given him bad…
John Carlos FreyHost
Hours after his inauguration, Donald Trump signed a clemency order covering more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

Most of the individuals got full pardons, wiped clean, as if it never happened.

14 people, including Stuart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, and Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, got something narrower, a commutation.

They walked out of prison that day, but their convictions stayed on the books.

Rhodes was still, on paper, a man convicted of seditious conspiracy, 18 years reduced to time served, but the conviction still stood on his record.

Then, in April of 2026, the Justice Department went to a federal appeals court and asked to vacate those convictions.

Circuit to throw them out entirely and to dismiss the underlying cases with prejudice, meaning these individuals could never be tried under these charges again under any future administration.

By late May, the court had granted it for the four remaining Proud Boys leaders, Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Zachary Rell, and Ethan Nordean.

The Department of Justice moved separately to dismiss the indictments against eight Oathkeeper defendants.

It was seditious conspiracy, the charge prosecutors used because, according to the government's own case at trial, these were people accused of plotting in advance to use force to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

It's one of the most serious charges in the federal code, and it's now gone permanently, off the books, as if the trial never happened.

People who know how to plot against the government, against the certification of an election and convicted of it had all the charges washed away.

And according to my source, it was done so that they would be fully free to do it again in the upcoming midterm elections this fall.

The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers weren't the only people connected to overturning the 2020 election who saw their legal exposure disappear.

In early 2026, Trump issued full, unconditional pardons for more than 75 people over what the pardon language called offenses related to the 2020 presidential election.

That list included 16 Michigan Republicans who had signed a false certification claiming Trump won a state that he had lost, and Kenneth Chesbrough, a lawyer who pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge for his role in that scheme across multiple states.

Separately, in March of 2026, the Department of Justice filed a motion saying it intended to review the state conviction of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk sentenced to nine years for breaching her own county's election system.

Hours after his inauguration, Donald Trump signed a clemency order covering more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

Most of the individuals got full pardons, wiped clean, as if it never happened.

14 people, including Stuart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, and Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, got something narrower, a commutation.

They walked out of prison that day, but their convictions stayed on the books.

Rhodes was still, on paper, a man convicted of seditious conspiracy, 18 years reduced to time served, but the conviction still stood on his record.

Then, in April of 2026, the Justice Department went to a federal appeals court and asked to vacate those convictions.

Circuit to throw them out entirely and to dismiss the underlying cases with prejudice, meaning these individuals could never be tried under these charges again under any future administration.

By late May, the court had granted it for the four remaining Proud Boys leaders, Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Zachary Rell, and Ethan Nordean.

The Department of Justice moved separately to dismiss the indictments against eight Oathkeeper defendants.

It was seditious conspiracy, the charge prosecutors used because, according to the government's own case at trial, these were people accused of plotting in advance to use force to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

It's one of the most serious charges in the federal code, and it's now gone permanently, off the books, as if the trial never happened.

People who know how to plot against the government, against the certification of an election and convicted of it had all the charges washed away.

And according to my source, it was done so that they would be fully free to do it again in the upcoming midterm elections this fall.

The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers weren't the only people connected to overturning the 2020 election who saw their legal exposure disappear.

In early 2026, Trump issued full, unconditional pardons for more than 75 people over what the pardon language called offenses related to the 2020 presidential election.

That list included 16 Michigan Republicans who had signed a false certification claiming Trump won a state that he had lost, and Kenneth Chesbrough, a lawyer who pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge for his role in that scheme across multiple states.

Separately, in March of 2026, the Department of Justice filed a motion saying it intended to review the state conviction of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk sentenced to nine years for breaching her own county's election system.
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