Edward Martin, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, is asking a federal judge to eliminate all restrictions on the previously incarcerated leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers paramilitary from visiting the capital.
Stewart Rhodes and several other Oath Keepers leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States for their role in the Jan. 6 attack. After Trump commuted their sentences in his sweeping Jan. 6 pardon order, a federal judge issued an amended supervised release order, which limits them from visiting D.C. in general without court permission.
Martin, appointed the same day Trump was sworn in as president, argues that the court doesn't have authority to do this.
"As the terms of supervised release and probation are included in the 'sentences' of the defendants, the Court may not modify the terms of supervised release; the term is no longer active by effect of the Executive Order."
ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration
According to CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, Martin further included a whataboutist complaint regarding pre-emptive pardons former President Joe Biden issued for members of his family and other officials likely to be subject to prosecutorial harassment by the Trump administration.
“If a judge decided that Jim Biden, General Mark Milley, or another individual were forbidden to visit America’s capital — even after receiving a last-minute, preemptive pardon from the former President — I believe most Americans would object," said Martin. "The individuals referenced in our motion have had their sentences commuted — period, end of sentence.” Notably, none of the people Martin is referring to were ever charged or convicted of any offense related to an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Rhodes has said he doesn't regret joining in with the Jan. 6 attackers, noted The Hill, but he does say he regrets the violence that occurred.
“I didn’t go into the Capitol. I didn’t tell anybody else to go inside ... I regret that my guys went in. They blundered in along with everybody else. It doesn’t make them criminals. It just makes me kind of stupid.”
