Trump issued a second pardon to the defendant on January 6 for a separate firearms crime

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has issued a second pardon to a Jan. 6 defendant who remains behind bars despite granting blanket clemency to Capitol rioters over a separate conviction for illegal firearms possession.

The decision is the latest example of Trump’s willingness to use his constitutional power to help his supporters who once tried to keep him in power despite his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020.

Daniel Edwin Wilson, of Louisville, Kentucky, was under investigation for his role in the riot when authorities found six guns and about 4,800 rounds of ammunition in his home. Because of his prior felony conviction, it was illegal for him to possess firearms.

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The charges have become part of a legal debate over whether Trump’s pardon of rioters on Jan. 6 applies to other crimes discovered during the sprawling federal crackdown that began after the attack on the Capitol. The Trump-appointed federal judge who oversaw Wilson’s case criticized the Justice Department earlier this year for claiming that the president’s Jan. 6 pardon applied to Wilson’s gun-related crime.

Wilson, who was scheduled to remain in prison until 2028, was released Friday evening after the pardon, Wilson’s attorney said Saturday.

“We are grateful that President Trump recognized the injustice in my client’s case and granted him this pardon,” attorney George Ballas said in an email. “Mr. Wilson can now reunite with his family and begin rebuilding his life.”

A White House official said Saturday that “because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of January 6, and they should not have been there in the first place, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson in connection with the firearms cases.” The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Wilson was sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to obstruct or injure police officers and illegally possessing firearms in his home.

Prosecutors accused him of planning the January 6 riot for weeks and coming to Washington with the goal of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. Authorities said he communicated with members of the far-right Oath Keepers group and followers of the anti-government Three Percenters movement during his march to the Capitol.

Prosecutors cited letters that they said showed that “Wilson’s plans were for a broader American civil war.” In one letter dated November 9, 2020, he wrote: “I am willing to do anything. I have made my decision. I understand that the tip of the spear will not be easy. I am willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. Whether it means prison or death.”

Wilson said at the sentencing that he regretted entering the Capitol that day but “participated with good intentions.”

The Justice Department had initially argued in February that Trump’s pardon for the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day in the White House did not extend to Wilson’s gun crime. The ministry later changed its position, saying it had obtained “more clarity on the purpose of the presidential pardon.”

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated by Trump, criticized the department’s evolving position and said it was “extraordinary” for prosecutors to seek to argue that Trump’s January 6 pardon extends to illegal “contraband” that investigators found during searches related to the January 6 cases.

Politico first reported Wilson’s pardon on Saturday. _____ Megerian reports from West Palm Beach, Florida.