Justice Department extends Trump pardon to Kentucky Capitol rioter’s firearms conviction

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has concluded that a military veteran’s presidential pardon for charges that he stormed the U.S. Capitol also extends to his separate conviction for illegally possessing stolen grenades and classified information, according to a court filing Tuesday.

Jeremy Brown, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army, was sentenced in April 2023 to seven years and three months in prison after a federal jury in Florida convicted him of weapons charges. Federal agents investigating Brown’s alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol were searching Brown’s home in Florida when they found stolen Army grenades, an unregistered rifle and a stolen classified document.

Brown’s charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack in the nation’s capital were still pending last month when President Donald Trump pardoned him and hundreds of other Capitol riot defendants on his first day back in the White House.

But it wasn’t until Tuesday that the Justice Department said it believes Trump’s pardon of Brown also covers his conviction in Florida. A court filing by the U.S. Attorney’s office says it reached that conclusion after consulting Justice Department “leadership.”

Justice Department and White House officials didn’t immediately respond to questions on Tuesday.

The department reached the same conclusion in other cases in which a Capitol riot defendant was convicted of separate charges.

Prosecutors initially concluded that the pardon didn’t cover the discovery of firearms found at the Kentucky home of convicted Capitol rioter Daniel Edwin Wilson. But a court filing Tuesday in Washington, D.C., says they later received “further clarity” that the pardon covers Wilson’s separate conviction on firearms charges.

Investigators seized six guns and roughly 4,800 rounds of ammunition from Wilson’s home. He had prior felony convictions that made it illegal for him to possess firearms.

The Justice Department has said the pardons don’t apply for at least two Jan. 6 defendants charged with other crimes.

Prosecutors have said they will continue prosecuting a man who had guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his van when he was arrested in June 2023 near former President Barack Obama’s Washington home. Prosecutors moved to dismiss Taylor Taranto’s charges stemming from his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, in light of the pardon. But prosecutors say the firearms offenses he faces are “wholly unrelated to the pardon.”

The Justice Department has also said the pardon doesn’t apply in the case of a man who was awaiting trial on Jan. 6 charges when prosecutors say he developed a plan to kill law enforcement, including FBI agents. Edward Kelley was convicted in November of charges including conspiracy to murder federal employees and is sentenced to be scheduled in May.