President Trump signed pardons for Dan Wilson and Suzanne Kaye, extending clemency to offenses tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Wilson had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impede federal officers and was serving additional firearm-related sentences stemming from a 2022 search; Kaye had been serving 18 months for threatening FBI agents. The Justice Department initially said the earlier pardons did not cover unrelated gun charges but later reversed course, a move criticized by a federal judge. The actions have led to several releases and renewed legal and political debate over the scope of presidential clemency.
Trump Grants Second Pardons to Jan. 6 Defendants, Broadening Clemency to Related Charges
President Trump signed pardons for Dan Wilson and Suzanne Kaye, extending clemency to offenses tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Wilson had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impede federal officers and was serving additional firearm-related sentences stemming from a 2022 search; Kaye had been serving 18 months for threatening FBI agents. The Justice Department initially said the earlier pardons did not cover unrelated gun charges but later reversed course, a move criticized by a federal judge. The actions have led to several releases and renewed legal and political debate over the scope of presidential clemency.
01:21 AM, 11/16/2025Politics
Trump issues second round of pardons for Jan. 6-related offenses
President Donald Trump on Friday signed pardons for two people connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach, broadening clemency to cover offenses related to the initial charges, the U.S. pardon attorney announced.
Ed Martin, who serves as the U.S. pardon attorney, posted on X that Dan (Danny) Wilson and Suzanne Kaye had been granted clemency. Martin described his advocacy for Wilson and criticized the prior Justice Department for what he called the "weaponization" of prosecutions in Kaye's case.
Details on Dan Wilson
Wilson, a Louisville, Ky., resident, pleaded guilty in May 2024 to conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer and received a five-year sentence. He remained incarcerated on separate firearm convictions that arose after federal agents searched his home in June 2022 as part of the Jan. 6 investigation. In August 2024 he was given additional time tied to convictions for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and for possessing an unregistered firearm; his sentence extended to 2028.
A White House official told Politico that because the search of Wilson's home stemmed from the Jan. 6 probe, and "they should have never been there in the first place," the president pardoned Wilson for the firearm counts. The Justice Department initially argued that previous blanket pardons did not reach those unrelated gun charges, but the department later changed course after what it described as "further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon."
"For too long, my client has been held as a political prisoner by a government that criminalized dissent," Wilson's attorney George Pallas told CBS News, calling the pardon a correction of that perceived wrong.
Details on Suzanne Kaye
Suzanne Kaye of Boca Raton, Fla., was serving an 18-month sentence after being convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents who sought to question her about her alleged involvement in the Capitol attack. Court records reported by The New York Times indicate Kaye denied being at the Capitol; prosecutors say she posted online videos threatening agents before meeting an investigator.
Wider legal fallout and reaction
The recent pardons have led to several releases and legal shifts. For example, Oath Keepers member Jeremy Brown was released from a seven-year sentence after his lawyers and the Justice Department argued a pardon applied to an unrelated conviction. Elias Costianes was freed after the DOJ declined to contest an appeal of an illegal firearms conviction. By contrast, the Justice Department opposed extending clemency in other cases — notably for Edward Kelley, who was sentenced to life for conspiring to kill law enforcement officers, and for David Daniel, after investigators found child pornography during a Jan. 6-related search.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who presided over Wilson's case, criticized the extension of pardons to cover offenses uncovered during related investigations. The wider debate centers on how far presidential clemency can be stretched to reach offenses discovered as part of broader probes.
Context: When Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, he issued clemency measures that affected roughly 1,500 people linked to Jan. 6; some defendants remained incarcerated for separate charges not initially covered by those measures.