Man pardoned by Trump over Jan. 6 arrested on alleged threats to judges
Cleveland Meredith, whom Donald Trump pardoned over his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, was arrested on Monday on new federal charges of allegedly threatening to murder federal judges. The Guardian reported the arrest.
Prosecutors allege that Meredith sent a Facebook post on April 23, 2026, that read: "ALL J6 Federal JUDGES will be EXECUTED!" The phrase "J6" is shorthand for January 6. Prosecutors say the post expressly threatened execution and amounted to what they call a true threat, a term for threats that prosecutors argue the law does not protect as free speech.
Prosecutors also allege that Meredith later posted messages calling for violence after the midterm elections, including one that said "firing squads will commence 11/04/26." In another post, according to The New Republic, he allegedly threatened 10 federal judges by name.
The threats are not the first to draw a federal case against Meredith. In January 2021, he was charged with making interstate threats against Nancy Pelosi, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He pleaded guilty in September 2021 in the District of Columbia to interstate communication, and in December 2021 he was sentenced to 28 months in prison.
Prosecutors said Meredith travelled from Colorado to Washington, DC, for January 6, 2021, but arrived late because of car trouble and missed the confrontation at the Capitol.
On his first day back in office in 2025, Trump pardoned Meredith as part of a mass clemency order, a formal grant of forgiveness for crimes, covering nearly 1,600 people charged or convicted over the January 6 assault. Prosecutors said Meredith had been referred to the FBI in July 2025 over a threat he allegedly made against an unnamed individual. He acknowledged making the statements but denied that they were threatening.
The FBI tracked Meredith to a hotel near the Capitol. Inside his trailer, agents found a 9mm semi-automatic firearm, an assault-style rifle with a telescopic sight, approximately 2,500 rounds of ammunition and large-capacity magazines, according to The Guardian.
