Criminal proceedings in the January 6 United States Capitol attack

The investigation of the participants who attacked the U . Capitol building was the largest criminal probe in U . history. Over 5,000 FBI employees worked on the investigation. Four years after the attack, everyone who had been federally charged related to the riot received clemency from President Donald Trump. On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters attacked the Capitol, disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes to formalize Biden's victory in the 2020 United States presidential election. By the end of 2021, 725 people had been charged with federal crimes. That number rose to 1,000 by the second anniversary of the attack, to 1,200 by the third anniversary (three-quarters of whom had by then been found guilty) and to 1,500 before the fourth anniversary. These federal cases are handled by the U . Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (D .). State cases, of which there are fewer, are handled in the D . Superior Court. Early on, the majority of charges filed against the rioters were for disorderly conduct and unlawful entry. Ultimately, about one-third of the defendants were charged with assault on or interference with law enforcement officers. Other charges included trespassing; disrupting Congress; theft or other property crimes; weapons offenses; making threats; and conspiracy, including seditious conspiracy. On March 1, 2024, a federal appeals court forbid the use of a sentencing enhancement. This decision was expected to require the resentencing of over 100 rioters who had received it. On June 28, 2024, in Fischer v. United States, the Supreme Court limited how the Justice Department could use the obstruction charge statute against the rioters. Hundreds of participants already charged with obstruction were expected to have the charge dismissed (though other charges would continue to apply). In November 2024, Trump was elected president, having repeatedly vowed during his campaign to pardon the rioters. Upon his inauguration on January 20, 2025, he did so, erasing the convictions of all but 14 of about 1,270 people. The remaining 14 people, though their convictions stood, were eligible for immediate release from prison, as he commuted their sentences to "time served." Trump himself had been indicted in August 2023 for his actions related to the Capitol attack, but the indictment was dismissed after his 2024 election. On February 4, 2025, responding to a Justice Department order to identify which of its 38,000 employees had worked on these investigations, the FBI identified over 5,000 people by their employee IDs. The FBI Agents Association had filed a restraining order to attempt to prevent the release of information; after the FBI provided the employee IDs to the Department of Justice, it sued. On February 6, the corresponding employee names were provided by the FBI to the Department of Justice through a system for handling classified information. On July 17, U . District Judge Jia Cobb dismissed the lawsuit, saying the agents had not "plausibly allege[d]" that Trump would injure them. Brian Driscoll, a senior FBI official who had been acting director and had resisted turning over the agents' names, was forced out of the FBI in August.