A Jan. 6 defendant who was tried alongside leaders of the Oath Keepers was pardoned by President Trump on Monday, after beforehand receiving a sentence commutation.
Thomas Caldwell, a U.S. Navy veteran from Virginia, stood trial in 2022 alongside Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes for seditious conspiracy. Federal prosecutors stated he referred to as for civil struggle forward of the 2021 Capitol assault and performed a key position within the anti-government militia’s planning forward of the riot.
Whereas Rhodes was convicted of the uncommon Civil Battle-era cost, Caldwell was acquitted of all conspiracy counts. He was discovered responsible of two different felonies, however after the Supreme Court docket narrowed an obstruction cost used in opposition to scores of rioters, a type of two counts was vacated. A federal choose sentenced him to time served, rendering Trump’s clemency toothless.
Caldwell’s solely remaining conviction was tampering with proof for deleting messages he despatched after the riot. All through the trial, he maintained he by no means formally joined the Oath Keepers and was not a member.
On Jan. 6, 2021, he neither entered the Capitol nor donned tactical gear, like different members of the group. As an alternative, he and his spouse joined rioters on the Decrease West Terrace’s exterior on the alternative facet of the constructing from the Oath Keepers, sporting avenue garments.
Nonetheless, prosecutors described him as an “avid and willing participant in an unprecedented crime,” drilling down on his efforts to assist the group create an armed “quick reaction force” — a cache of weapons saved throughout the Potomac River in case the plan went south.
The president initially commuted Caldwell’s sentence alongside the sentences of 13 different Oath Keepers, together with Rhodes, and leaders of the right-wing Proud Boys. He granted full pardons for the roughly 1,500 different Jan. 6 defendants, together with Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio.
