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.
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.
Casey Cusick served a 10-day prison sentence for unlawfully entering the Capitol and says he paid the price.
