'The volume’s getting turned up': J6 defendants expecting Trump pardons get unruly in court

Participants in the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 have reportedly become emboldened since the 2024 election given their expectations of being pardoned by President-elect Donald Trump.

According to a Friday article in Politico, several defendants being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have been acting out in court proceedings during the lame-duck period between outgoing President Joe Biden's administration and Trump's inauguration. One of those defendants is Guy Reffitt, a Texas man who brought a gun to the insurrection. Politico's Kyle Cheney reported that Reffitt criticized Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, claiming his treatment was "bulls—."

Reffitt said he had been "in [his] feelings" since 2021, when he was first imprisoned in the Washington, D.C. jail. He added that now that Trump is about to enter the White House, he's "out of my feelings." Friedrich, who re-sentenced Reffitt to seven years, responded: “No one has a problem with your feelings. It’s the actions you took with your feelings.”

READ MORE: Jan. 6 rioter asks judge to postpone case due to 'expected scope of clemency' from Trump

Other judges are also contending with the rowdiness of January 6 rioters. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, said during a sentencing hearing for a member of the Proud Boys gang that breaking past Capitol Police barricades “at the direction of a disappointed candidate” was “the definition of tyranny and authoritarianism.”

"The volume’s getting turned up," Jackson said on Friday.

Trump has previously referred to January 6 defendants as "hostages," which is a label Judge Jackson has pushed back against, though simultaneously doing so carefully and not mentioning the incoming president by name. Many of the defendants Trump has called for pardoning are in jail for assaulting police officers — including both defendants who were convicted by a jury, and defendants who pleaded guilty of their own volition.

Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn called Trump's proposed pardons a "slap in the face" last month, given that hundreds of officers were injured defending the Capitol with others, like Officer Brian Sicknick, dying in the days following the attack. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said during a Friday sentencing hearing that he fears Americans have "largely shunted aside" the actions that law enforcement took to protect the Capitol.

READ MORE: 'Slap in the face': Ex-Capitol policeman rips Trump over promised pardons of Jan. 6 rioters

Click here to read Politico's report in full.