Former Proud Boys extremist group leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes have been released from prison.
Their lengthy sentences for seditious conspiracy over the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol were wiped away by a sweeping order by President Donald Trump which benefited more than 1,500 defendants.
Rhodes and Tarrio were two of the highest-profile January 6 defendants and received some of the harshest punishments in what became the largest investigation in US Justice Department history.
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington in 2017 (Susan Walsh/AP)
Their lawyers confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that they had been released hours after Mr Trump pardoned, commuted the sentences of, or ordered the dismissal of cases against all the 1,500-plus people who were charged with federal crimes over the riot.
Mr Trump’s action paved the way for the release from prison of extremist group leaders convicted in major conspiracy cases, as well people convicted of violent attacks on law enforcement.
Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, was serving an 18-year prison sentence and Tarrio, of Miami, was serving a 22-year sentence.
They were convicted of orchestrating plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Mr Trump, a Republican, lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.