William Pope has a bold prediction regarding his upcoming trial on charges that he was part of the mob that breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Kansas man doesn’t believe his scheduled June 2025 trial will take place. Indeed, he expects to be exonerated of the felony and four misdemeanor counts he now stands accused of once President-elect Donald Trump takes office this month.

“I don’t think I’m going to have a trial,” said Pope, 38, who is representing himself in his criminal case and has become a folk hero of sorts among Jan. 6 defendants over his outspokenness and sometimes unorthodox court filings.

“You can never eliminate the possibility completely,” he told The Star. “But in this environment, I don’t think it’s going to happen, and I don’t think my judge thinks it’s going to happen. I think relief is coming for defendants, and I think my case is going to end in the near future.”

Pope, of Topeka, is hardly alone in his expectations. Four years after thousands of Trump supporters stormed the nation’s Capitol in protest of what they claimed was a stolen presidential election — triggering what the Justice Department calls “the largest investigation in DOJ history” — the fate of many of the nearly 1,600 charged in the riot could lie in the president-elect’s hands.

Throughout his campaign, Trump pledged to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he has referred to as “hostages,” “patriots” and “political prisoners.” But the details on how he intends to accomplish that remain unclear.

“We’re looking at it right now — most likely, yeah,” Trump told moderator Kristen Welker in a Dec. 8 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked if he planned to pardon those who charged the Capitol. “Those people have suffered long and hard … ” In some cases, he said, “their lives have been destroyed.”

Trump added the pardons would be determined on a case-by-case basis and that “there may be some exceptions.”

As for the timing, he said, “Most likely I’ll do it very quickly.”

“First day?” Welker asked.

“Yeah, I’m looking first day.”

Can Trump really pardon all the Jan. 6 defendants?

“As President, he would have the legal authority to pardon any or all of those charged, at whatever stage their cases are,” said Mark Tushnet, a Harvard Law School professor.

Issuing pardons on such a large scale would be extraordinary, and might have political implications that Trump and his advisers would likely take into account, Tushnet said.

“But as a legal matter,” he said, “his power is unlimited.”

Don Haider-Markel, a University of Kansas political science professor and expert on extremism, said Trump has a variety of options available.

“It could be pardons, it could be commutation of sentences,” he said. “It could be any number of different things. There’s really nothing to hold him back in these cases, because they’re all federal charges.”

Haider-Markel said, however, that a blanket pardon for all of the Jan. 6 defendants is unlikely.

“With Trump, everything is about spectacle,” he said. “I think there’s likely to be an effort to single out some of the high-profile people that didn’t directly attack police officers and don’t have affiliations with the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers or Three Percenters. And those are the ones most likely to receive pardons.

“But regardless of who he chooses to pardon or whose sentences he commutes, I think it sends the message that the 1-6 (Jan. 6) insurrectionists were justified. It sends a message that if you don’t like something that’s happening in the government, you can go commit crimes on the basis of your dissatisfaction.”

Arrests now total nearly 1,600

More than 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the Capitol siege, the Justice Department said, making it the largest single-day mass assault of officers in the nation’s history.

The arrest tally now stands at about 1,583 from nearly all 50 states, according to the department’s statistics released on Monday. Of those, 608 have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement agents or officers or obstructing those officers during a civil disorder. And of those 608 defendants, about 180 were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.

Among the weapons used and carried on the Capitol grounds the day of the riot, the Justice Department said, were firearms, pepper spray, tasers, a sword, axes, hatchets and knives. Rioters also used makeshift weapons, the government said, such as destroyed office furniture, fencing, bike racks, riot shields stolen from police, baseball bats, hockey sticks, flagpoles, PVC pipe and reinforced knuckle gloves.

Of those charged, 1,009 have pleaded guilty, including 327 to felonies and 682 to misdemeanors, Justice Department statistics show. Another 261 have been found guilty at trials. Overall, about 1,100 defendants have been sentenced, with about 667 receiving periods of incarceration.

Trump himself was indicted on four felony counts in August 2023 for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results, including an attempt to obstruct Congress’ certification of votes on Jan. 6.

But in July 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that granted Trump substantial immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken while in office, and the case was sent back to the trial court to determine whether any of the charges could go forward.

Once Trump was elected president, however, special counsel Jack Smith moved to drop the case against him because of the Justice Department’s longstanding policy that a sitting president can’t face criminal prosecution.

Status of Kansas and Missouri cases

In the past four years, 38 residents from Missouri and 10 from Kansas have been charged for their actions on Jan. 6. Their offenses range from misdemeanor counts of demonstrating or picketing to felonies that include assaulting officers and civil disorder.

Of the 10 Kansans charged, nine have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced. Three received probation; one was given probation and 30 days’ home detention; one got 70 days’ incarceration; one received four months’ incarceration plus two years’ probation; one got 20 months in prison; and one received 75 days in prison.

The only Kansas case pending is Pope’s, which has attracted national attention over his efforts to force the government to release Capitol security footage from Jan. 6. He originally was charged with two felonies and six misdemeanors, but one felony and two misdemeanors were dismissed last year and he succeeded in getting his trial moved until after Trump takes office.

Of the 38 Missourians charged, 32 have pleaded guilty or have been found guilty in a jury trial or a bench trial before a judge. Of those, 31 have been sentenced, with 15 receiving jail time ranging from 14 days to nearly six years. One-third of those prison sentences were for a year or more.

Five Missouri defendants remain in prison and could be among those under consideration for pardon by Trump. All were convicted of assaulting or obstructing officers during the riot.

–Cale Douglas Clayton, of Drexel, was indicted on April 22, 2022. He faced multiple felony charges, accused of struggling with officers and taking a police baton during the melee outside the Capitol.

Body-worn camera video from the Metropolitan Police Department showed Clayton yelling and pointing at law enforcement officers. Among the things he shouted, court documents said: “You guys realize your President told us to be here. Your President! Hey, how does that make you feel? You’re defying your own f------ country!...Are you a Patriot? Or are you a f------ yes man?”

Clayton pleaded guilty on March 10, 2023, to two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers or employees. He was sentenced July 11, 2023, to 30 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Prison records show he’s at a halfway house in Kansas City and has a scheduled release date of March 6, 2025.

–John George Todd III, of Blue Springs, was charged on May 3, 2022, with four misdemeanors after he was captured on video making threatening remarks to police officers and illegally remaining in the building.

“At one point inside the rotunda, while near a law enforcement officer, Todd yelled, ‘I swear to God, I’ll hip toss your ass into the f------ crowd, mother ------!’” court documents said.

A federal grand jury later indicted him on felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers that inflicted bodily harm and obstruction of an official proceeding in addition to the four misdemeanor counts.

Todd requested a jury trial, which began on Jan. 29, 2024. After a weeklong trial and three days of deliberations, the jury found him guilty on all six charges. He was sentenced May 31 to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. Prison records show he is in custody at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, with a scheduled release date of May 10, 2028.

“I believe that President Trump will follow through with his promise to pardon the January 6th defendants,” Todd’s attorney, John Pierce — who has represented more than 50 Jan. 6 defendants — told The Star.

“I am also optimistic that John Todd will be among those pardoned. As we fought so hard to prove at trial and are continuing to do now on appeal, we believe he is innocent of all charges, and we especially believe the assault conviction was unsupported by either the facts or the law.”

–Kyle Kumer, a Kansas City church staffer who authorities say took his mom to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and participated in a concerted “heave-ho” movement against a line of officers during the riot, was charged June 28, 2023, with civil disorder — a felony — and three misdemeanors.

Prosecutors said Kumer, with his mother in tow, helped other rioters push against the police line in a tunnel entryway on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol where a Metropolitan Police officer was dragged outside, beaten and shocked with stun guns by the mob.

Kumer pleaded guilty Jan. 31, 2024, to obstructing officers during a civil disorder. He was sentenced July 9 to 10 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Prison records show he is in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Thomson, Illinois, with a scheduled release date of May 10, 2025.

–Christopher Brian Roe, of Raytown, was accused of assaulting police and carrying a pitchfork on the Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6 riot. He was arrested July 18, 2023, and his nine charges included multiple felonies.

After arriving at the Capitol, the probable cause affidavit said, Roe moved close to police with the pitchfork in hand, then grabbed a bicycle rack that was in front of the officers and dragged it toward the crowd. When an altercation erupted between a rioter and a Capitol Police officer, the document said, Roe — with the pitchfork in his right hand — moved forward and pushed the officer with his left hand.

Roe then went to the West Lawn of the Capitol, worked his way to the Upper West Terrace and followed other rioters into the building. While inside, the affidavit said, Roe shoved an officer and wrapped his arm around the officer, impeding him from defending police from the rioters.

After being forced outside, Roe re-entered through the East Rotunda doors. He again scuffled with police and blocked them from moving the rioters out. When police tried to push him out of the building at 3:30 p.m., the affidavit said, Roe “spread both of his arms wide and grabbed onto the doors.” He kept holding on to the doors until officers forcefully removed him.

Roe then went to the north door of the Capitol, the document said.

“At approximately 4:16 P.M., rioters were trying to breach into the doors while officers were barricaded inside the Capitol,” it said. “In his own attempt to break down the doors, Roe brought a bike rack into the alcove and rammed it against the inner doors roughly ten times. At points, the door visibly buckled inwards against its hinges after Roe’s strikes.”

Roe pleaded guilty on Nov. 2, 2023, to three felony counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding officers. He was sentenced March 5, 2024, to 70 months in prison and two years of supervised release. According to prison records, he is in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina, with a scheduled release date of April 5, 2029.

–Rally Runner, of St. Louis — a Cardinals superfan who legally changed his name from Daniel Donnelly Jr. — was accused of using a police shield to help rioters push officers from a Capitol entrance during the riot.

He was charged July 31, 2023, with civil disorder, a felony, and four misdemeanors. Court documents said Runner — his face painted red — obtained a police riot shield and worked his way to the front of the crowd at the Lower West Terrace tunnel entrance, where he “continued to hold the line as rioters sprayed chemical irritants, threw items, and screamed at law enforcement officers.”

As rioters pressed forward, the documents said, Runner was in the lead, using the shield to push officers back. The officers forced Runner out of the tunnel after about 10 minutes.

Runner pleaded guilty to civil disorder on March 22, 2024. He was sentenced Aug. 15, 2024, to 10 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. Runner is in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Thomson, Illinois, and has a scheduled release date of Sept. 3, 2025.

–Kyler Joseph Bard, from Seneca at the time of the Capitol breach, was charged Jan. 12, 2023, with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers and civil disorder, both felonies. He also faced four misdemeanor counts.

According to the charging document, Bard used a megaphone outside the Capitol to incite rioters and shoved an officer in the process. He fell backwards after continuing to push against the officer, the document said, adding that as he fell, “Bard yelled to the crowd of officers, ‘You’re all a bunch of pieces of s---.’”

Bard pleaded guilty to all charges on May 28. He was sentenced Nov. 15 to one year in prison and 24 months of supervised release. Bard was scheduled to report to prison on Jan. 15, but he has asked the judge to extend that date to March 1 because his house in Joplin was badly damaged in a fire on Dec. 21 and he needs time to deal with the aftermath.

Attending Trump’s inauguration

As Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration approaches, several Capitol riot defendants — including Pope and a Kansas City man — have gone to court seeking permission to attend the event.

Eric Lee Peterson, a military veteran who court documents say lives in both Kansas City and Roseville, Michigan, was charged July 3, 2024, with four misdemeanors. He was arrested Aug. 6 in Kansas City and pleaded guilty in November to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

According to his signed statement of offense, Peterson entered the Capitol building at about 3:03 p.m. on Jan. 6, walking directly past an officer posted at the doors. He entered the Rotunda about a minute later, took photos on his cellphone, was ushered out of the area by officers around 3:07 p.m. and exited the building about 3:11 p.m.

Peterson’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 27, although his attorney said it would likely be rendered moot if Trump follows through with his pledge to pardon Jan. 6 defendants.

On Dec. 17, Peterson filed a motion requesting that his probation be modified to allow him to attend Trump’s inauguration.

“Mr. Peterson, as the government will agree, was not alleged to have done anything related to assault or vandalism at the January 6, 2021 protests,” Peterson’s lawyer, Michael Bullotta of Detroit, wrote in the motion. “His offense was entering and remaining in the Capitol for about 8 minutes without proper authorization.”

Peterson also requested that he be granted “slightly broader travel within the Kansas City Metropolitan area where he lives,” to include Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Miami and Linn counties.

The motion said Peterson is a business owner and military veteran who had no criminal history prior to his Jan. 6 case.

“Apart from being reasonable on their face, these two modification requests are even more appropriate in light of the incoming Trump administration’s confirmations that President Trump will fully pardon those in Mr. Peterson’s position on his first day in office on January 20, 2025,” the motion said.

On Dec. 19, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a President Barack Obama appointee, approved both requests.

‘Bah Humbug!’

Four years into the Jan. 6 investigation, Pope and many Trump supporters continue to insist that federal agents instigated the riot, calling it a “Fedsurrection.”

Pope has been at the forefront of a push for the government to make the Capitol surveillance footage from Jan. 6 available to the public. He has filed a series of motions requesting the release of videos that he says include footage of undercover Metropolitan Police officers inciting protesters to breach the Capitol.

Those videos, he said, could aid Trump in his decision on whom to pardon. While a blanket pardon of all defendants would be a thorny issue, Pope said, if Trump can prove that there was government misconduct involving the riot, he could use that as justification to drop the charges on everyone.

“Then you don’t have to differentiate and go through case-by-case,” Pope said, adding that trying to do such reviews by Jan. 20 would be difficult.

A report released last month by the Justice Department’s inspector general said its investigation “found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6.”

The report said 26 of the FBI’s confidential sources were in Washington for Jan. 6-related events, but only three had been tasked by the agency to be there “to report on domestic terrorism subjects who were possibly attending the event.”

Of the 26, the inspector general found, four entered the Capitol during the riot and 13 entered the restricted area around the Capitol. None of those who entered the Capitol or a restricted area have been prosecuted, it said.

Meanwhile, Pope is waiting for U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras’ decision on whether to allow him to attend Trump’s inauguration. He said he hadn’t originally planned to go, but someone invited him and he changed his mind. He declined to say who extended the invitation.

The government filed a motion Thursday asking the court to deny Pope’s request.

“Defendant presents a danger to the D.C. community, including the very law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and continue to serve the citizens of the District,” the filing said.

“The last organized event the defendant attended in Washington, D.C., spiraled into a full-scale riot. This was the scene of his charged crime — a felony which contributed to the violent disruption of the peaceful transition of power.”

Pope contends that he was “entirely peaceful on January 6.”

“This really did crush my life,” he said. “Twenty minutes of my life has kind of resulted in four years of hell.”

He said, however, that he respects Contreras. On Dec. 25, he filed a notice to the court that said, “Merry Christmas!”

“While I don’t always agree with your rulings, I do appreciate being allowed to represent myself in my own way,” it said. “May you and your staff have a Merry Christmas, and an excellent New Year!”

But the heading on the second page was, “As for the Government, Bah Humbug!” It quoted a passage about Ebenezer Scrooge’s encounter with Jacob Marley’s ghost in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

“Soon you will be out of government, and like Marley’s ghost, you will be out of power to turn from evil and do good,” Pope wrote. “ … For four years you have crushed the lives of peaceful Americans. In doing so, you have attacked our Constitutional rights. Putting me in chains was your biggest mistake. You will be haunted by these chains you have forged for yourselves.”

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