30 WA residents included in mass pardons from Trump
Jan 21, 2025, 7:13 AM | Updated: 8:44 am
President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Photo: Evan Vucci, The Associated Press)
(Photo: Evan Vucci, The Associated Press)
As Donald Trump repeatedly promised throughout his 2024 campaign, the president issued pardons Monday for approximately 1,500 people convicted or criminally charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress convened to certify Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump.
Thirty of the people previously prosecuted for the Jan. 6 attack, now pardoned by Trump, either live currently or lived in Washington — including Ethan Nordean, an Auburn resident.
Nordean was a former leader and Seattle-area chapter president of the Proud Boys far-right extremist group who was previously sentenced to 18 years in prison — one of the longest sentences handed down — in addition to 36 months of supervised release for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Prosecutors claimed Nordean, 34, was the “undisputed leader on the ground for the Proud Boys far-right group on Jan. 6” — leading the crowd to assault police officers. According to court documents from the Department of Justice obtained by MyNorthwest, Nordean and other co-defendants served as members and leaders of a special chapter of the Proud Boys known as the “Ministry of Self-Defense.”
More background coverage on Nordean: Ex-Proud Boys leader from Auburn sentenced to 18 years in prison
This group established a chain of command, chose a time and place for their attack and recruited others who would follow their top-down leadership and who were prepared to engage in physical violence if necessary, according to court documents. Nordean, Pezzola and others gathered at the base of the concrete stairs that led to the doors and windows of the Capitol with many of their co-conspirators and other men they had led to the Capitol.
The group again surged toward the Capitol and overwhelmed officers who had been battling the crowd for nearly an hour. Pezzola smashed open a window, allowing the first rioters to enter the Capitol at 2:11 p.m., according to The Associated Press.
However, during Trump’s first day back in office, he called Nordean’s pardoning, among the other 1,500 approximate pardons, the beginning of a process of national reconciliation.
“What they’ve done to these people is outrageous,” Trump said to reporters during his first day back in office. “These people have been treated so badly. It’s never happened before.”
There’s no word whether Nordean has been released from prison, as of this reporting.
Trump inaugural speech: President rips past leaders, makes promises; KIRO hosts react
Trump cites CHOP as reason for Jan. 6 pardons
Trump referenced the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (CHOP) several times when he was issuing pardons for the approximate 1,500 people who were implicated in the Jan. 6 attack.
Trump told reporters he thinks what happened during the CHOP protest was far worse than what happened regarding the Capitol riots in Washington D.C.
“What happened in Seattle, where they took over a big portion of the city?” Trump asked reporters rhetorically. “What happened in Portland, where they burned down the city every day and people died? Nothing happened to anybody.”
During a presidential debate in September, Trump previously cited CHOP as an example of failed crime policy under the Biden administration in “liberal-leaning” cities, falsely claiming protesters took over a significant portion of the city.
“When are the people that burned down Minneapolis going to be prosecuted, or in Seattle?” Trump asked rhetorically during the September presidential debate. “They went into Seattle, they took over a big percentage of the city of Seattle. When are those people going to be prosecuted?”
Trump on Seattle: What Trump said about Seattle during presidential debate
Separately, Trump ordered an end to federal cases against “political opponents” of the Biden administration, claiming he wanted to end the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest and producer of the Seattle Seahawks podcast, The Reset with Gee Scott. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.
