William Pope at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack (via FBI court filing).
An accused Jan. 6 rioter from Kansas is seeking sanctions against the government and President Donald Trump’s top prosecutor in Washington, D.C., for “bringing false accusations” against him and “egregious invasive conduct” — including an alleged “setup” that involved him being lied to about getting to keep his case file and “all of the discovery” that he collected over the years, the man says.
“This level of treachery is typically only seen outside of Washington D.C. in poker cheats, horse thieves and backshooters,” wrote Will Pope, a Topekan and onetime city council candidate, in a Thursday filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where he’s seeking the sanctions.
Pope has accused Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, of lying to him at the Liberty Inaugural Ball on Jan. 20 about gaining legal access — with Martin’s approval — for Pope to ask for his full case file in court and “all of the discovery” that he had collected after his February 2021 arrest.
Pope then requested the file and info in court but was denied by the DOJ.
“Had this simply been a matter of Mr. Martin changing his mind, he should have told me so,” Pope said Thursday. “Since Mr. Martin, through the government oppositions, has also tried to deny that he gave me permission to keep the discovery (which is irreversibly intertwined in my case notes), and since Mr. Martin has used this as an opportunity to cast allegations against me after they have been dismissed by this Court (when I no longer have an opportunity to confront these allegations in trial), this feels like a great betrayal.”
Pope, like other accused Jan. 6 rioters, had his pending case dismissed in January after Trump issued an executive order to end the cases of all Capitol riot defendants through dismissal, commutation or pardon. He was originally charged with seven federal crimes, including civil disorder; obstruction or impeding any official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; impeding passage through the Capitol grounds of buildings; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Authorities said Pope and his brother, Michael Pope, were both involved in physical altercations with police and other rioters after entering the Capitol. The pair allegedly stormed through the suite of offices belonging to then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the Crypt and Statuary Hall.
On Feb. 12, Pope filed a motion seeking sanctions against the government — but not Martin — for “bringing false accusations” against him and the “egregious invasive conduct,” according to a Feb. 25 opposition filing by the DOJ. Pope claims Trump’s executive order dismissing his case and pardoning other Jan. 6 rioters is “proof” that the government’s prior descriptions of the defendant’s conduct on Jan. 6 are “false” and he feels the Justice Department should be held accountable.
“Neither the government’s motion nor the Court’s Order constitute an adjudication of the allegations in this case,” Martin said in the government’s Feb. 25 opposition to Pope’s motion for sanctions. “Rather, the motion carries out the directive of the President in the Executive Order dated January 20, 2025, Granting Pardons and Commutation of Sentences for Certain Offenses Relating to the Events at Or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, to dismiss all pending cases.”
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Martin added, “The defendant’s trial right to a ‘presumption of innocence’ remains intact — as it had during years of pretrial litigation. The government’s summary recital of the factual background does nothing to upset that presumption. Nor does it violate the defendant’s right to avoid Double Jeopardy — as no new indictment has been brought. And there has been no violation of the Defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to confront evidence presented at trial.”
On Thursday, Pope responded to the DOJ’s Feb. 25 reply with his own opposition filing, saying he was “stunned” by the DOJ pushback and is now seeking sanctions for Martin as well.
The government’s response to his case file request “completely contradicted everything Mr. Martin had told me in person,” Pope alleged. “I assumed that it must have been the work of a rogue prosecutor, since it was being reported in the news that people inside his office were undermining his directives.”
Pope insists that Martin originally suggested filing for discovery and his case file, saying: “Martin is the one who raised the issue and directly suggested I file the request.” The two of them first discussed the idea at the inaugural ball and Martin allegedly assured Pope that he’d be successful.
“During the course of our brief conversation, Mr. Martin congratulated me on the dismissal and suggested that I file a request for the full file the government had collected on my case and any other requests I might have,” Pope said Thursday. “I did not bring this idea up to Mr. Martin; he suggested I do it without me asking him. Since I was in favor of the idea, I told Mr. Martin that I would file the request and I also asked him if he was ok with me keeping all the discovery that I had collected throughout the course of my defense. Mr. Martin told me directly that I was permitted to do so.”
Pope added, “This feels like a setup.”
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Pope made headlines earlier this year after he was cleared to travel to Washington, D.C., from Jan. 19 to Jan. 21, for Trump’s inauguration.
Prosecutors opposed the move, saying Pope is a “danger to the D.C. community.” Pope responded he was peaceful on Jan. 6, never assaulted anyone, and was not charged with assault.
“The only people who freaked out about me touring the Capitol in October were the members of the prosecution team and the FBI agents who stalked me the entire time, so I suspect that the only individuals who will experience a mental breakdown if I attend the inauguration are also on the prosecution team,” Pope said.
After Trump’s executive order was issued, a federal judge dismissed a total of five non-violent charges against Pope, who was representing himself in his Jan. 6 case, after postponing his criminal trial in December.
“There will be some loose ends to tie up, but I look forward to starting a new chapter in life,” Pope told The Capital-Journal in January.
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