By Susan Heavey and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A federal judge on Friday barred Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the far-right Oath Keepers group, and others in its top ranks from entering Washington – and specifically the U.S. Capitol – unless they get court permission, after President Donald Trump ordered them released from prison.
Rhodes was among hundreds of Trump supporters serving prison sentences for taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. They went free after Trump on Monday, his first day in office, issued a sweeping grant of clemency for all of the nearly 1,600 people criminally charged in the riot.
“You must not knowingly enter the District of Columbia without first obtaining the permission from the Court,” read the order signed by Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
It also said the defendants could not enter the Capitol building or surrounding grounds without court permission. Prosecutors accused some of Rhodes’ co-defendants of leading a charge up the Capitol steps during the riot.
Rhodes was photographed and videotaped visiting the Capitol on Wednesday, a day after his release. Rhodes told reporters that his release had been a vindication. Trump told reporters on Thursday he would be open to meeting with Jan. 6 defendants.
Rhodes and seven of his co-defendants, all former members of the Oath Keepers, were among the 14 Jan. 6 defendants not given a full pardon, allowing a judge to impose some conditions on their release.
A federal prosecutor on Friday asked the judge to lift the order, arguing that the judge no longer had the authority to impose conditions on Rhodes and the seven co-defendants after Trump commuted their sentences.
“The individuals referenced in our motion have had their sentences commuted – period, end of sentence,” Ed Martin, the Trump-appointed interim U.S. attorney in Washington, said in a statement.
Four other federal judges who oversaw Capitol riot cases have spoken out against the mass pardons and defended how the legal system had treated the cases.
Rhodes had been serving an 18-year sentence after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy for plotting to use force to prevent Congress from certifying Trump’s 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden. Several co-defendants were also convicted of the same charge.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama, Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman)
