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Maddowblog-Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter arrested on child molestation charges, adding to pattern
Donald Trump has tried to downplay the number of accused Jan. 6 criminals who’ve ended up in legal trouble again, but the list is long and growing.
The list of Jan. 6 criminals who ended up getting arrested again after receiving Trump pardons is long and growing.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-11-19T16:44:26.468Z
The Andrew Johnson case out of Florida, however, is especially galling. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/pardoned-jan-6-rioter-arrested-child-molestation-charges-adding-patter-rcna244802
At a White House event last month, a reporter asked Donald Trump for his reaction to the arrest of a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter after he allegedly threatened to assassinate a congressional leader. “You have thousands of people that we’re dealing with and, you know, if one goes haywire,” the president said, before changing the subject midsentence.
If he were right, and just one of the Jan. 6 criminals he pardoned had ended up in legal trouble again, Trump’s reaction might have been defensible. But the growing list has many more than one name on it. NBC News reported:
....A recent New York Times report noted a variety of other examples, including Brent Holdridge, a pardoned Jan. 6 criminal who was arrested again in May in connection with a string of alleged thefts of industrial copper, and Matthew W. Huttle, who was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy in January after he resisted arrest during a traffic stop, shortly after receiving a presidential pardon.
What’s more, this growing list doesn’t include John Banuelos, a Jan. 6 rioter who was arrested last month on kidnapping and sexual assault charges. Banuelos wasn’t pardoned, but he saw his Jan. 6 criminal case dropped by Trump’s Justice Department the day after the Republican’s second inauguration.
The president has also begun repardoning some Jan. 6 rioters, shielding them from accountability for other crimes, unrelated to their insurrectionist assault on the U.S. Capitol; but in most of the aforementioned cases, the accused are facing state and local charges, not federal charges.
In other words, if they’re waiting for another presidential rescue, they’re going to be disappointed.
If he were right, and just one of the Jan. 6 criminals he pardoned had ended up in legal trouble again, Trump’s reaction might have been defensible. But the growing list has many more than one name on it. NBC News reported:
A man pardoned by President Donald Trump for storming the Capitol was arrested on child molestation charges, according to Florida officials, who said he tried to use an anticipated Jan. 6 payout to silence the victim. Andrew Paul Johnson, 44, was arrested in Tennessee in August and extradited to Florida on charges of lewd/lascivious molestation, lewd/lascivious exhibition and transmission of material harmful to a minor.
....A recent New York Times report noted a variety of other examples, including Brent Holdridge, a pardoned Jan. 6 criminal who was arrested again in May in connection with a string of alleged thefts of industrial copper, and Matthew W. Huttle, who was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy in January after he resisted arrest during a traffic stop, shortly after receiving a presidential pardon.
What’s more, this growing list doesn’t include John Banuelos, a Jan. 6 rioter who was arrested last month on kidnapping and sexual assault charges. Banuelos wasn’t pardoned, but he saw his Jan. 6 criminal case dropped by Trump’s Justice Department the day after the Republican’s second inauguration.
The president has also begun repardoning some Jan. 6 rioters, shielding them from accountability for other crimes, unrelated to their insurrectionist assault on the U.S. Capitol; but in most of the aforementioned cases, the accused are facing state and local charges, not federal charges.
In other words, if they’re waiting for another presidential rescue, they’re going to be disappointed.
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