The mob on January 6 went on a rampage, injuring 140 police officers.
The White House has created a new web page to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the January 6 riot, painting an ominous picture of Democrats.
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A Florida man pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing two children, prosecutors announced.
Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, was found guilty in February on five criminal charges, including sexual abuse of a child under 12 and a child under 16. An obscene and lewd display. It also includes electronically transmitting material harmful to minors, according to the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit. He was sentenced on Thursday, March 5th.
Johnson was arrested in July 2025 after the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office received a report that “two juveniles were the victims of lewd and lewd acts over a period of several months,” according to court records obtained by USA TODAY.
When deputies responded to a home in Brooksville, Florida, about 80 miles north of Tampa, they were informed by one of the victims’ mothers that both of her children admitted to having been “inappropriately touched by Mr. Johnson,” according to court records and prosecutors. One of the victims told investigators that the abuse began around April 2024, when the victim was 11 years old.
Further investigation revealed that Johnson tried to silence one of the victims by claiming he was “given” $10 million by the Trump administration to compensate the Jan. 6 defendant, and that he intended to leave some of it to the victim in his will, according to court records.
“This tactic appears to have been used to prevent (the child) from disclosing what Andrew had done,” court records state.
Prosecutors said Johnson intended to buy one of the victims’ various gifts or food to deter them from reporting them to authorities. Prosecutors said the victim told investigators that Johnson “once told her never to tell anyone because he might get in trouble.”
Investigators also discovered numerous sexually explicit messages that Johnson exchanged with one of the victims on the instant messaging and social platform Discord, prosecutors said.
“In the messages, Johnson attempted to get the victim to download another application to have a more private conversation, and then encouraged the victim to delete the messages,” the 5th Judicial Circuit State’s Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Johnson was previously convicted of participating in the Capitol riot.
In August 2024, Johnson was sentenced to one year in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 attack, according to court records. He previously pleaded guilty in April 2024 to charges including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly vandalism in a restricted building or grounds.
Federal prosecutors said Mr. Johnson attended Mr. Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House, then marched to the Capitol and used a bullhorn to say, “We have to get the (expletive) job done.” According to court records, the man entered the building through a broken office window and through broken glass.
Prosecutors said Johnson then encouraged other rioters to join him in the Oval Office and continued the disorderly and destructive behavior on the Capitol grounds for more than four hours. Video of the incident shows Johnson inside the building yelling, “We’re not (expletive) done. We need to get through that (expletive) door. We’re not done yet,” court records state.
Johnson also repeatedly cursed and yelled at police officers who used tear gas and other chemical irritants to quell the riot, according to court records. After the incident, prosecutors said Johnson “frequently spread misinformation” on social media about the Jan. 6 attack, calling for a second riot more than a year after his arrest.
Prosecutors said Johnson had a long criminal history, showed no remorse for his participation in the riots and violated the terms of his release at least 10 times.
Capitol rioters face new charges
Johnson is one of a series of Capitol rioters who committed new crimes after being pardoned by President Trump in 2025. On his first day in office, Mr Johnson pardoned more than 1,500 people charged in the January 6 attack, writing in a proclamation that the pardons would begin a “process of national reconciliation”.
The proclamation granted commutations of sentences for more than a dozen people and “full, complete and unconditional pardons for all other individuals convicted of crimes related to the events that occurred on or near the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
A December 2025 analysis by the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found that at least 33 defendants pardoned by President Trump in the Jan. 6 incident have been rearrested, indicted, or sentenced for other crimes since the attack.
Several incidents made national headlines. In October 2025, 34-year-old Christopher Moynihan was indicted on a felony charge of making terroristic threats. He is accused of sending threatening text messages about House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ scheduled public appearances.
According to court records, the text message read: “Jeffries will be speaking in New York in the next few days. I cannot let this terrorist live. … Even if I am hated, he must be eliminated. … I will kill him for the future.”
Federal prosecutors said Moynihan was one of the first rioters to enter the Capitol grounds and witnessed a struggle between rioters and police at the entrance to the rotunda.
In a separate incident, Zachary Jordan Arum, 33, was arrested in May 2025 on suspicion of breaking into a home in Virginia and stealing personal property, local television station WUSA9 reported. According to the TV station, Alam was previously serving an eight-year sentence for assaulting a police officer and breaking a window in the speaker’s lobby.
Before President Trump’s pardon, WUSA9 said Arum was unapologetic for his actions during the January 6 attack. “We are not just expecting a pardon, we are demanding a pardon,” Alam told the television station.
Contributor: Fernando Cervantes Jr., Breanna J. Frank, Terry Collins, USA TODAY
