They’ve spent thousands on legal fees, started businesses, written books, and applied for law school.
This is what some of the January 6 rioters have done since storming the Capitol four years ago after President-elect Donald Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen.
Just as Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris will be formally certified by a joint-session of Congress on Monday afternoon, some rioters who received prison sentences have revealed how the consequences of that day in 2021 have impacted them.
Trump has said that he could pardon the January 6 prisoners on “Day One” of his second administration and previously characterized the riots as “a day of love.”
While some of them maintain January 6 was “a setup,” others say they now understand the cost of being held accountable, The New York Times reported.
Aspiring authors
Two people who have turned their experiences on January 6 into material for books are James Beeks, who was fully acquitted, and Jenna Ryan.
Beeks was an actor and Broadway star when he went to Washington with the far-right Oath Keepers militia group. The five-time Broadway star was playing Judas in a road company production of Jesus Christ Superstar when he was arrested in November 2021, facing charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and civil disorder.
But he was acquitted of both charges in July 2023. Since then, Beeks has been writing a book about his experience titled I am Judas Redeemed.
“I still have this J6 scarlet letter on my chest,” he told the New York Times, and shared he has been living in Florida in a friend’s van. He has not returned to Broadway or acting since his arrest, according to the newspaper.
Meanwhile, former real estate broker Jenna Ryan from Texas found inspiration for a book in a 60-day prison stint for her actions on January 6.
Ryan, who stormed the Capitol chanting “Fight for Trump” in the Rotunda, tweeted the following day: “We just stormed the Capitol. It was one of the best days of my life.”
Ryan pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of illegally demonstrating inside the Capitol, but said it has allowed her to fulfill a “lifelong goal of being a writer and speaker,” she told theTimes.
Her book titled Storming the Capitol: My Truth About January 6th, attempts to show “how it feels to be caught in the middle of a polarized political climate, canceled by society, surveilled by the F.B.I. and thrown in prison for a tweet,” she added.
Employment struggle and attempting to rebuild
Casey Cusick served a 10-day prison sentence for unlawfully entering the Capitol and says he paid the price.
The 39-year-old of Florida lost his small business as a handyman after he was featured on local news, and he told the Times he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees.
“It changed my mind forever about the criminal justice system,” he told the outlet. “I’ll never look at the term ‘prisoner’ the same again.”
Cusick added that he was shocked by having to give up his passport and his firearm when his case began.
Life has signifcantly changed for Couy Griffin, the former county commissioner from New Mexico.
Griffin, the founder of the group Cowboys for Trump, was sentenced to 14 days in prison for illegally climbing over a fence to reach the steps of the Capitol.
He was removed from office under the 14th Amendment, and his career has reportedly struggled.
“He used to own a restaurant. Now, he says, he repairs golf carts,” the Times reported.
“It’s been difficult,” he told the newspaper. “But I believe that the people who support me and know me, their support has only grown stronger.”
Eric Clark, of Kentucky, is trying to rebuild his life after serving five months in prison for illegally entering the Capitol wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. He refused to leave for almost 30 minutes.
Clark had struggled with homelessness and drug addiction but had been three years sober and in a steady job before January 6, 2021, the Times reported.
The 48-year-old now works as a drywall cleaner and is “trying to put his life back together.” He has reconnected with his daughter, despite the fact that she was the one who turned him in.
“Instead of being mad at her, I’ve chosen to accept that she has her viewpoint and I have mine,” Clark told the newspaper.
Inspired to go into law
Former plumber and fringe New York state senate candidate Daniel Christmann served a 25-day prison sentence after he unlawfully entered the Capitol through a broken window.
He became so inspired by the defense lawyers working on his case that he went back to school at St Joseph’s College in Brooklyn. After he graduates in May, now aged 42, he is applying to law school.
“I just felt like what went on in my case was so bizarre and unjust that I knew we needed more fighters like her,” Christmann told the Times, referring to a federal defender.
Treniss Evans, 50, from the San Antonia area, was also inspired by the law after he was sentenced to 20 days in prison for entering the Capitol’s restricted grounds.
Evans used a megaphone and led the mob in the Pledge of Allegiance and The Star-Spangled Banner in the Capitol.
After he served his sentence sentence, Evans founded the group Condemned USA, which provides legal support to others who took part in the Capitol riots.
“I used to believe in our judicial system,” he told the Times. “But now I see what generations upon generations of minorities and people of lower income have been complaining about.”
Evans has also written a book, titled Call It Insurrection, Comrade.
Unrepentant
The image of Jacob Chansley wearing a horned headdress with a six-foot spear is synonymous with the January 6 riots.
Chansley became known as the QAnon Shaman and pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal proceeding.
He was sentenced to 41 months in prison but was released for good behavior after serving only 27 months.
The 37-year-old remains unrepentant for his actions that day and told the Times he experienced “tyranny firsthand” during his prosecution. He maintains that day was “a setup” by the government, the Times adds, and he has been branded a “villain and terrorist” by the media.
But Chansley, who says he’s making art in Phoenix, Arizona, claims life is more or less the same, though he gets “more interviews now,” he told the newspaper.
