J6 "hostages" and their supporters gathered outside the DC Central Detention Facility, infamously known as the DC Gulag, to celebrate after President Donald Trump issued full pardons to some 1,500 J6 defendants on Monday.
"So, this is January 6th, these are the hostages," Trump said on Monday after issuing a proclamation on the pardons. "Approximately 1,500 for a pardon. Full pardon... We have about six commutations in there, where we're doing further research... We hope they come out tonight, frankly. We're expecting it."
Some reports said that a number of those who have been pardoned were still being held.
William Sarsfield, 47, of Gun Barrel City, Texas, walked out of the Philadelphia jail at 3 a.m. Tuesday and then traveled to Washington to revel with J6 compatriots.
“I’m very blessed that President Trump kept his word to the American people,” Sarsfield told The Washington Times.
Sarsfield was found guilty of a felony offense of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.
He said it was “unfathomable [that] there’s still people locked up” nearly a day after Trump signed the pardons.
Brothers Andrew and Matthew Valentin, from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, were the first to be released from DC Gulag. They walked out into freedom just before midnight, Trump administration officials announced outside the jail.
“The first two January 6 defendants have been released. This is a few hours after President Trump signed his historic pardon,” the White House liaison to the Justice Department, Paul Ingrassia, told reporters, calling the pardon a “monumental moment in our history.”
“This injustice is ending in America tonight and this dark chapter in our country’s history is coming to an end,” Ingrassia added.
The Valentin brothers had just been sentenced on Friday to two and a half years in prison each, according to the Pocono Record.
Matthew Valentin, 32, pleaded guilty in September to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and faced up to eight years in prison, the local outlet reported.
Andrew Valentin, 27, pleaded guilty to one felony count of the same charge as well as one felony count of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He faced up to 28 years behind bars.
Neither entered the Capitol building on Jan. 6, but both were involved in scuffles with law enforcement officers, according to the Biden-Harris Justice Department.
All of those being held for crimes related to J6 were expected to be released within days of Trump's proclamation.
Also walking out of the DC Gulag was Jake Lang, who had been held by the Biden-Harris regime for four years without trial.
Jake Lang has been held hostage for four years without trial by the Biden regime for January 6th.
Minutes ago, he got released to rejoin civic society as a free man. Thank you President Trump. pic.twitter.com/K3xUPgQHwn — George (@BehizyTweets) January 22, 2025
🇺🇸 JAKE LANG THANKS ELON MUSK FOR HELPING TO FREE J6 PRISONERS
He also stated he did NOT have to sign anything to be released. No NDA about how he was treated. 😎🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/OfLlSnstBz — Diligent Denizen 🇺🇸 (@DiligentDenizen) January 22, 2025
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes said “it’s a good day for America that all the wrongs are being undone.”
Rhodes, who was serving an 18-year prison term, was one of the defendants who had their sentences commuted to time served. He was released from a federal correctional facility in Maryland but went to DC to welcome other J6ers who were being freed.
As he waited outside the DC Gulag for other J6 defendants to be released, Rhodes said: “None of them should have been here in the first place.”
Rhodes said he hoped Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, would “get in there and clean house” at the bureau. He called for prosecutors who “suborned perjury” to be prosecuted.
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was not at the Capitol on J6 but was convicted of sedition and received one of the longest prison sentences, said: “Twenty-two years — this is not a short sentence. That’s the rest of my life. So, Trump literally gave me my life back.”
Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon Shaman," said when he learned Trump had pardoned him he "walked outside" and "screamed 'freedom' at the top of my lungs and then gave a good Native American war cry."
Chansley pleaded guilty in September 2021 to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding and was sentenced to 41 months in prison. He served about 27 months before being transferred to a Phoenix halfway house in March 2023, according to The Associated Press.
Some J6 defendants remained in the DC Gulag. WUSA 9 investigative reporter Jordan Fischer noted that Trump’s order gave full pardons to almost everyone convicted of J6-related crimes. However, if someone is in jail and still awaiting trial, their case, per the order, will be dismissed. The dismissal of such cases could take longer to process, according to Fischer.
“They’ve been treated very unfair. The judges have been absolutely brutal. The prosecutors have been brutal. And nobody’s ever treated people in this country like that,” Trump said on the first day of his second term.
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