DOJ moves to vacate Jan. 6 conviction for Proud Boys leader from WA

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 15, 2026

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to erase the conviction of a prominent leader of the Proud Boys from Washington state for his actions during the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Ethan Nordean is one of a number of Capitol rioters from the far-right groups known as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for whom the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to wipe away criminal convictions Tuesday.

In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called the development “an appalling and dangerous turn of events.

“The Department of Justice is now acting like in-house counsel for the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys,” continued Raskin, of Maryland.

While President Donald Trump has pardoned most of those convicted for the 2021 riot at the Capitol, a handful, including Nordean, instead saw their sentences commuted. This allowed them to get out of prison while leaving their convictions on the books.

In 2023, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., sentenced Nordean, of Auburn, to 18 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of seditious conspiracy and other charges. His punishment was among the longest handed down for actions related to Jan. 6.

Nordean was among the leaders of the Capitol breach meant to thwart the certification of the 2020 presidential election results as part of the “stop the steal” movement. They believed Joe Biden’s victory was fraudulent, a false claim Trump stoked in the election’s aftermath.

He and others led the breaches of multiple barricades, allowing the rioters to surge into the Capitol, according to court documents. Nordean and his co-defendants “participated in every consequential breach” of the Capitol that day, federal prosecutors wrote at the time.

In the days after the attack, Nordean celebrated it and called for further action against the government, according to the prosecutors from the Justice Department who said he “committed a crime of terrorism” that amounted to a threat to the nation.

In its court filing Tuesday, the Justice Department said vacating the convictions of Nordean and others is “in the interests of justice.” The move comes from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., led by former Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro.

Nordean’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. It’s not clear if he returned to the Pacific Northwest after his release from prison.

Nordean has expressed some remorse in the years after the attempted insurrection. At his sentencing, for example, he apologized and noted the violence his mob carried out. The lawyers for Nordean and others portrayed them as “incompetent” people duped by Trump.

Before the riot, Nordean was a bodybuilder who worked in his family’s restaurant in Des Moines.

The Trump administration is also seeking to eliminate similar convictions for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Nordean’s fellow Proud Boys, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. Rehl posted on X that he was “beyond thrilled” at the news.

Nordean, along with Biggs, Rehl, Pezzola and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sued the federal government last year over allegations the Justice Department abused the legal system to secure their convictions. They demanded over $100 million in damages.

Last week, a federal judge in Florida dismissed the complaint so that it can be amended to resolve technical issues. The Justice Department is opposing the lawsuit, despite Trump’s past interest in compensating the rioters he sees as patriots who were treated unfairly.