A Missouri military veteran who “knowingly and unlawfully” stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bright pink shirt during the Jan.
6 riot has been granted permission to return 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 — while others await approval.
Eric Peterson, who pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol on January 6, 2021, after being charged with misdemeanors in August, will now be able to skip his probation and travel to Washington next month to attend Trump’s inauguration after Barack Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan approved his request on Dec. 19, according to court records reviewed by Law & Crime. Prosecutors did not make 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, stated in a Dec. 17 motion.
“According to the administration, Mr. Peterson was not accused of any assault or vandalism during the January 6, 2021 protests. His crime was entering and staying in the Capitol for approximately 8 minutes without official authorization.”
According to Bullotta, Peterson informed the government in a recent proffer with the FBI that he was unaware of the violent demonstrators and property damage occurring on the Mallside of the Capitol when he walked from his Washington vacation rental house with a buddy to the scene of the disturbance.
“Mr. Peterson is a business owner and military veteran who has no criminal history before this case,” says Bullotta. “He has no history of violent behavior or vandalism.
There is no reason to assume that granting Mr. Peterson’s request to attend the inauguration celebration will endanger the District’s inhabitants.
Judge Chutkan, who decided to drop Trump’s election meddling case “without prejudice” after special counsel Jack Smith moved for dismissal late last month, agreed with Bullotta’s judgment and issued a motion to permit Peterson’s trip to Washington last Thursday.
She determined that Peterson was free to travel around the Kansas City Metropolitan area during his trip, and that all other terms of his probation would remain unchanged.
Peterson is one of numerous Jan. 6 defendants who have asked permission to attend Trump’s inauguration after his electoral victory last month.
Russell Taylor, a Jan. 6 rioter from California who also pleaded guilty and is on probation for storming the United States Capitol with a knife, bear spray, hatchet, and other weapons, requested approval earlier this month and even enlisted the help of his Mormon lawmaker “friends” in Utah, who wrote to the judge overseeing his case.
“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 allow Taylor to travel from California to Washington with his wife and children.
Taylor is presently on probation after receiving a six-month term for obstructing an official procedure, a penalty that the Supreme Court said in June was incorrectly applied to Jan. 6 defendants.
Department of Justice prosecutors disputed his request to attend Trump’s inauguration, arguing that the nature of his acts should ultimately prevent him from returning “to the scene of the crime,” according to an opposition motion filed on December 18.
“A scant four years ago, the defendant, in his own words, ‘organize[d] a group of warriors’ who were ‘ready and willing to fight’ to come to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power after that election,” according to the motion.”
“He boasted to his coconspirators, whom he organized in a ‘DC Brigade’ Telegram group, that he would ‘be on the steps of 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 advised them to carry firearms and plate carriers.
Cindy Young, a Jan. 6 rioter convicted of four misdemeanors for rushing and overwhelming officers guarding the House of Representatives, filed a motion on Dec. 18 requesting permission to attend Trump’s swearing-in, insisting that she “poses no threat of danger to the community.”
Her probation, like the others’, had a specific supervision condition requiring her not to knowingly enter Washington, D.C., the United States Capitol Building, or the surrounding grounds without the consent of her probation officer.
Prosecutors with the Department of Justice have also filed an opposing filing against her request.
Prosecutors wrote in a Dec. 18 response that despite Young’s claim that she poses no threat to the community, she poses a threat to the D.C. community, including law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021. They also noted that Young never admitted guilt and was convicted by a jury.
“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.
,” the prosecution claimed. “This Court also imposed standard conditions, one of which prohibits communication and interaction with convicted felons.” Young has not provided a compelling or necessary cause to fly to Washington, D.C.”
The judge supervising Young’s case has yet to rule.
