(WWJ) A somewhat high-profile Michigander is among the 1,500 January 6th participants who have been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Former Michigan gubernatorial candidate from the GOP Ryan Kelley now calls himself a "pardoned J-6er."
Trump, on his first day in office, issued blanket pardons or commutations for people charged in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 — including people convicted of seditious conspiracy or assaulting police officers.
At least 20 people from Michigan were charged in connection with the riots, and it appears that all 20 have been pardoned.
Kelley — who has called the events at the U.S. Capitol an "FBI set up" — in 2023 pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of Entering a Restricted Area, and served 60 days in federal prison.
According to documents field in federal court, Kelley climbed scaffolding and ended up in a courtyard at the Capitol. He also allegedly gestured to the large crowd to come to the building.
Kelley reportedly agreed to pay $500 in restitution toward the $2.8 million in damage done to the Capitol during the riot when thousands gathered to protest the results of the 2020 Presidential Election.
Speaking with WWJ Newsradio 950's Ryan Wrecker on Jan. 6, 2025, Kelley said he expected and welcomed a pardon by Trump.
What comes to mind when he thinks back on that day?
"It was a day that's going to live on in American history that, you know, to many is an attack on Democracy, right? Really. an attack on bureaucracy, if you will. And to many others is was, you know, a day when people were standing up for fair elections in our country," Kelley said. "Very polarizing in our county. Two very different viewpoint on that."
Kelley said being known as a January 6th participate had actually been good for his business as a commercial real estate broker.
"I work with clients that love me for who I am!" Kelley told Wrecker. "And so, in all reality, if anything it's kind of boosted my status in attracting my ideal clients of people who like me for who I am."
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Trump's sweeping action, just hours after his return to the White House, paves the way for the release from prison of people found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
The pardons, the AP said, are a culmination of Trump’s yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack, which left more than 100 police officers injured as the angry mob of Trump supporters — some armed with poles, bats and bear spray — overwhelmed law enforcement, shattered windows and sent lawmakers and aides into hiding.
MORE: Trump grants sweeping pardon of Jan. 6 defendants, including rioters who violently attacked police