Trump-Appointed Prosecutor Asks Judge to Revoke Order Restricting Oath Keepers From D.C.

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana.

Hours after a federal judge issued an order prohibiting Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members of the far-right militia group he founded from traveling to Washington, D.C. or the U.S. Capitol without court permission, a prosecutor appointed by President Donald Trump filed a motion opposing the restrictions.

One of Trump’s first acts after his inauguration was signing off on orders to pardon approximately 1,500 people, commute the sentences of fourteen more, and direct the Department of Justice to dismiss with prejudice (meaning the cases cannot legally be re-filed) any remaining indictments. The 47th president’s broad grant of freedom applied to nearly all the Capitol rioters, even those charged with or convicted of violently assaulting police officers and the ringleaders of the attack like Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Rhodes, who walked free early from his 18-year sentence.

The text of Trump’s executive order regarding the commutations stated that it commuted the sentences for the fourteen affected individuals “to time served as of January 20, 2025,” phrasing that has led to some “consternation” for the attorneys representing the Oath Keeper defendants, according to a report by Talking Points Memo, with “some suggesting that whoever drafted the commutations for Trump may have made an error.”

A criminal sentence often has multiple aspects beyond just a period of imprisonment; it could also include penalties like monetary fines, orders to complete community service or counseling, and supervised release restrictions (probation or parole) to be imposed after incarceration. Commutations often expressly list these other penalties in order to legally remove them as well, but Trump’s commutation only addressed the “time served” aspect and was silent on other post-release supervision issues.

The hastiness of the pardons and commutations executive order on Inauguration Day may have played a role in this omission. Reporting by Axios’ Marc Caputo indicated that Trump made a last-minute decision to issue a broad order freeing nearly all the rioters instead of the far more onerous task of analyzing them on a case-by-case basis; the president and his advisors may not have reviewed the specific sentences for each of the fourteen who were receiving commutations.

On Wednesday, Rhodes was spotted visiting the Capitol to meet with Republican lawmakers and the media in a scene described by Politico’s Kyle Cheney as “hold[ing] court” with the media “in the same building he gleefully watched under attack.” Two days later, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia Amit Mehta issued an Order Amending Conditions for Release for Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerchel, and Joseph Hacket with two new “location restrictions,” prohibiting them from visiting Washington, D.C. or the U.S. Capitol complex specifically “without first obtaining the permission from the Court.”

On Friday, interim acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin — a Missouri GOP operative appointed by Trump after years of loyal devotion to his “Stop the Steal” cause — filed a motion asking Judge Mehta to revoke the restrictions and allow Rhodes and his fellow Oath Keepers the freedom to travel, and to officially remove any remaining terms of supervised release and probation.

“No Assistant U.S. Attorney, the line prosecutors who handle criminal cases, signed onto the incredibly unusual order,” noted TPM reporter Josh Kovensky.

Martin also took another atypical step in a public statement he posted with the motion on the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office website about Judge Mehta’s motion, which said:

“If a judge decided that Jim Biden, General Mark Milley, or another individual were forbidden to visit America’s capital—even after receiving a last-minute, preemptive pardon from the former President—I believe most Americans would object. The individuals referenced in our motion have had their sentences commuted – period, end of sentence.”

-U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Edward Martin