Left: Jan. 6 defendant Eric Peterson inside the U.S. Capitol (Department of Justice). Right: President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at a meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
A military vet from Missouri who “knowingly and unlawfully” stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bright pink shirt during the Jan. 6 riot has been given the green light to travel back to Washington, D.C., for Donald Trump‘s inauguration — with the same federal judge who agreed to dismiss the President-elect’s election fraud case granting him permission to go — as others await approval.
Eric Peterson, who pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol on January 6, 2021, after being hit with misdemeanor charges in August, will now be allowed to skirt his probation and travel to Washington next month to attend Trump’s swearing-in after Barack Obama-appointee U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan approved his request on Dec. 19, according to court records viewed by Law&Crime. Prosecutors did not file an objection.
“Mr. Peterson respectfully requests that he be provided limited permission to travel to the District of Columbia for the purpose of attending President Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Monday January 20, 2025,” Peterson’s lawyer, Michael Bullotta, asked in a Dec. 17 motion. “Mr. Peterson, as the government will agree, was not alleged to have done anything related to assault or vandalism at the January 6, 2021 protests. His offense was entering and remaining in the Capitol for about 8 minutes without proper authorization.”
According to Bullotta, Peterson told the government in a recent proffer with the FBI that he was not aware of the violent protesters and property damage happening on the Mallside of the Capitol at the time he walked from his Washington vacation rental home with a friend to the scene of the riots.
“Mr. Peterson is a business owner and military veteran who has no criminal history before this case,” Bullotta claimed. “He has no history of any kind of violence or vandalism. There is no reason to believe that Mr. Peterson will be violent or present any danger to the residents of the District if the Court grants his request to attend the inaugural event.”
Judge Chutkan — who agreed to scrap Trump’s election interference case late last month “without prejudice” after special counsel Jack Smith filed to dismiss — wound up agreeing with Bullotta’s assessment and issued a motion to approve Peterson’s trip to Washington last Thursday. She ruled that Peterson was free to travel within the entirety of the Kansas City Metropolitan area during his trip and all other conditions of his probation would remain unchanged.
Peterson is one of several Jan. 6 defendants who have requested permission to go to Trump’s inauguration following his election win last month.
A Jan. 6 rioter from California named Russell Taylor — who also pleaded guilty and is on probation, as well, for storming the U.S. Capitol with a knife, bear spray, hatchet and other weapons — asked for approval earlier this month and even enlisted the help of his Mormon lawmaker “friends” in Utah, who asked the judge overseeing his case in a letter.
“He is the guest of a former congressman, and has demonstrated over and over again that he is trustworthy in his travel and compliance with court orders,” wrote Taylor’s attorney, Dyke E. Huish, in a Dec. 11 court motion asking U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth — a Ronald Reagan appointee — to let Taylor travel from California to Washington with his wife and children.
Taylor is currently on probation after being given a six-month sentence for obstruction of an official proceeding, a charge that the Supreme Court ruled in June was wrongly applied to Jan. 6 defendants. His request to attend Trump’s inauguration was challenged by Department of Justice prosecutors, who argue that the nature of his offenses should ultimately bar him from returning “to the scene of the crime,” according to a Dec. 18 opposition motion.
“A mere four years ago, the defendant, in his own words, ‘organize[d] a group of fighters’ who were ‘ready and willing to fight’ to come to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, to stop the peaceful transfer of power after that election,” the motion said. “He bragged to his coconspirators, who he organized in a ‘DC Brigade’ Telegram group, that he would ‘be in the steps on the senate’ and that he wanted to ‘be on the front steps and be one of the first ones to breach the doors.’ As the group discussed their violent plans, the defendant encouraged them to bring weapons and plate carriers.”
Cindy Young, a Jan. 6 rioter who was convicted of four misdemeanors for rushing and overwhelming officers with others as they guarded the House of Representatives, filed a motion on Dec. 18 asking for permission to see Trump’s swearing-in — insisting that she “poses no threat of danger to the community.” Like the others, her probation included a special condition of supervision that requires her to not knowingly enter Washington, D.C., nor the United States Capitol Building or surrounding grounds without the permission of her probation officer.
DOJ prosecutors have filed an opposition motion against her request, as well
“Contrary to Young’s self-designation that she ‘poses no threat of danger to the community,’ Young presents a danger to the
D.C. community, including the very law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021,” prosecutors wrote in their Dec. 18 response, noting how she never admitted guilt and was convicted by way of a jury trial.
“Young’s criminal conduct on January 6, 2021, as well as her failure to recognize the seriousness of her actions, was egregious and concerning enough for this Court to impose a sentence of incarceration along with certain conditions of release — including restrictions on travel to Washington, D.C.,” prosecutors said. “This Court also imposed standard conditions, one of which forbids communication and interaction with those convicted of felonies. Young has not put forth a compelling nor necessary reason to travel to Washington, D.C.”
The judge overseeing Young’s case has yet to make their ruling.
