Almost four years to the day since his father was taken into custody for his part in the January 6 Capitol riot, Jackson Reffitt watched in complete shock as President Donald Trump signed an executive order that pardoned and commuted sentences for his father and some 1,500 other insurrectionists.
Reffitt has spent most of the last four years in hiding, constantly on the move every few months. He was the person who tipped off the FBI about his father’s involvement in the insurrection. Jackson’s father, Guy Reffitt, was a member of the Texas Three Percenter group when he stormed the Capitol wearing body armor and carrying a pistol and zip ties. He was caught on camera urging other rioters to storm the Capitol building and told members of his militia group that he intended to drag House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of the building by her ankles, “with her head hitting every step on the way down.”
“Trump himself has given him a presidential pardon to let him be free. That validation is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience that he’s never going to get again,” Reffitt tells WIRED. “I can’t imagine what he’s going to be willing to do now. It could get a whole hell of a lot worse.”
Reffitt is “terrified” about what is going to happen next, and has armed himself with a handgun and a rifle to protect himself and his boyfriend. Over the last few years, he has been targeted, harassed and threatened online.
Since Trump pardoned everyone, the threats are becoming even more intense.
“[In the last 24 hours] it’s gotten worse than ever,” Reffitt tells WIRED. “I think just because, yet again, the validation that Trump is bringing is just making people a whole lot more emboldened to just say some vile, disgusting shit.”
Reffitt is not the only family member of a released January 6 prisoner who is concerned about the fallout from Trump’s blanket pardons. Tasha Adams, the ex-wife of Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes who had his 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy commuted by Trump, is also worried about what might happen. “Stewart is out of prison now and, frankly, I could really use a bit of a run fund, in case it comes to that,” Adams wrote on her GoFundMe page on Tuesday, hours after her ex-husband was released from prison.
The investigation into the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol became the biggest in Justice Department history, and left many far-right militia groups in the country in ruins. But with a single pen stroke on Monday night, Trump has reinvigorated the militia movement, freeing their most prominent figures, including Rhodes and Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio.
“One of things I’m most concerned about is the risk of groups that were decimated after J6 coming back stronger, especially since many of them had their sentences commuted or were outright pardoned,” says Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. “I wouldn’t be shocked if the Oath Keepers began making more appearances, and seeing the Proud Boys accelerate their culture war tactics, especially against the LGBTQ community, like we’ve seen before. Their leaders are free, they have a lot to catch up on, and they are likely feeling vindicated.”
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Are you a family member of a January 6 prisoner who is being released? We’d like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact David Gilbert at david.gilbert@wired.com or securely on Signal on DavidGilbert.01
Guy Reffitt was the first rioter to go on trial for his actions on January 6 and initially received a sentence of seven years and three months, which was reduced by seven months in December after a Supreme Court ruling that led to the dismissal of an obstruction charge against him.
“I’m a very strong Patriot, with fabulous support from Patriot Warriors, as we navigate troubled waters,” Reffitt wrote to one acquaintance from jail in a text message submitted by the prosecution at his December resentencing.