A Kansas City man who pleaded guilty to entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and expects a pardon from President-elect Trump will be allowed to attend Trump’s inauguration, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presided over Trump’s election subversion case, granted Eric Lee Peterson’s request to attend the president-elect’s swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20 as well as a request to expand his local travel restrictions while on bond, News From The States reports. Peterson attorney Michael Bullotta argued that his client deserved the exceptions because he does not have a criminal record and “(h)is offense was entering and remaining in the Capitol for about 8 minutes without proper authorization. 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. Thus, his scheduled sentencing hearing before this Court on January 27, 2025 will likely be rendered moot,” Bullotta wrote.
Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he exalted as “patriots,” “warriors” and “hostages.” The president-elect has said that he’s “going to be acting very quickly” to pardon the defendants on day one — though he indicated he might make exceptions “if somebody was radical, crazy.” Peterson pleaded guilty to knowingly and unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, for which he could face up to one year in prison, plus a fine. As part of the plea, he agreed to pay $500 in restitution toward the estimated $2.8 million in damages to the Capitol. Approximately 1,572 people faced federal charges following the attack on the Capitol that stopped Congress for hours from certifying the 2020 presidential election victory for Joe Biden. Lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence evacuated to secured locations within the Capitol as rioters assaulted 140 police officers and vandalized parts of the building. Peterson is among the 996 defendants who have pleaded guilty to charges. Peterson appeared on both surveillance video from inside the Capitol and publicly available third-party video taken outside the building during the riot
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