In one of President Donald Trump’s first moves since reclaiming the Oval Office, he pardoned all the January 6 rioters – something he had spoken about doing for a while.
He claimed that their imprisonment was ‘inhumane’, despite the fact that they stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and even took a cop hostage.
Now, yesterday (January 22), just one day after being excused on Tuesday (January 21) by the Republican, Daniel Charles Ball – who was convicted of violence on the infamous day – has been arrested on a new charge.
The 39-year-old has been arrested in Washington DC in connection to a firearm offense by a grand jury in Florida.
The charge is unrelated to his part in the Jan. 6 riots, with the indictment claiming he possessed a firearm and ammo in May 2023.
Ball, who has been convicted of three felonies between 2017 and 2021, was sentenced in 2017 in relation to domestic violence – or more specifically, battery by strangulation, while in 2021, he was cuffed for resisting cops as well as violence and battery of a law enforcement officer.
The firearm offense came into play as for almost two years, he was waiting on pretrial proceedings for the crimes he committed when he rushed the Capitol building, so when Trump pardoned him, the grand jury in Middle District County, Florida, were able to sweep in.
Speaking of Ball’s crimes committed during the Jan. 6 riots, a judge said that ‘his charges are among the most severe of any related to the January 6 events’, adding that he ‘exhibited violent behavior’.
Prosecutors have claimed he brought an explosive device to the grounds and threw it into a tunnel which caused officers to suffer hearing problems for months later.
He then is alleged to have taken a plank of wood he’d found from a shutter with him while he entered the Capitol building for around two minutes.
Ball pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts he faced, including: violence with a deadly weapon, carrying an explosive, and assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers with a deadly weapon.
He is one of around 1,500 rioters to have been pardoned – but not everyone accepted being excused by the president.
Pamela Hemphill, 71, served 60 days in prison after pleading guilty to her role in the 2021 riots.
On social media, she was dubbed the ‘MAGA Granny’ and has since spoken out following the news of the pardons.
Hemphill explained that her reasoning for refusing her pardon was straightforward, and she opposed the pardoning of all the January 6 rioters, not just her own.
She said: “We were wrong that day. We broke the law – there should be no pardons.”
She also added that in accepting a pardon would be ‘insult the Capitol police officers, the rule of law, and, of course, our nation’.
She went as far to accuse Trump of attempting to rewrite history regarding what happened that day.
She continued: “I pleaded guilty because I was guilty.
“Accepting a pardon would only contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative.”
