In a recent move, former President Donald Trump granted pardons to two individuals linked to the events surrounding the 2021 Capitol riots. These pardons were announced over the weekend.

Suzanne Ellen Kaye, who had served an 18-month prison term for threatening FBI agents during the investigation into her role in the riots, and Daniel Edwin Wilson, who remained in custody due to a firearms possession conviction, were both recipients of Trump’s clemency. Wilson was previously excluded from a broader pardon of January 6 participants.

Ed Martin, the Pardon Attorney, shared images of the pardons on the social platform X on Saturday. Martin emphasized his particular efforts in securing clemency for Wilson and accused the Justice Department under the former Biden administration of targeting Kaye unfairly.

According to court documents, the FBI was alerted to Kaye’s possible involvement in the January 6 events in 2021. During a phone interview with FBI Agent Arthur Smith, Kaye, who hails from Boca Raton, Florida, denied having been at the Capitol.

Known online as “Angry Patriot Hippie,” Kaye later posted videos on Facebook and Instagram entitled “F— the FBI.” In these videos, she was seen drinking from a bottle and making threats, stating she would shoot any FBI agent who came to her home. She also shared one of these videos on TikTok.

Kaye was found guilty of threatening to shoot FBI agents in June 2022 and sentenced to 18 months in prison in April 2023. She was released last year.

A White House official told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister company, Saturday that Kaye “suffers from stress-induced seizures,” which she experienced while the jury read its verdict.

“This is clearly a case of disfavored First Amendment political speech being prosecuted and an excessive sentence,” the official added.

The Hill has reached out to Andrew Adler, a federal public defender representing Kaye, for comment.

Wilson, meanwhile, was under investigation for his role in the riots when authorities found six guns and roughly 4,800 rounds of ammunition at his Louisville, Ky., home. Due to prior felony convictions, it was illegal for Wilson, who was involved with the far-right Oath Keepers group, to possess firearms. 

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impede or injure officers and two counts related to illegal possession of a firearm in May 2024. He was sentenced to five years in prison in August 2024.

The Justice Department argued earlier this year that the president’s mass pardons of Jan. 6 rioters applied to Wilson’s firearms convictions, receiving backlash from a Trump-appointed federal judge overseeing the case.

Wilson, previously scheduled to remain in prison until 2028, has been released, his lawyer, George Pallas, told The Hill on Sunday. Pallas added that Wilson “was a victim of prosecutorial overreach and weaponized government” who “committed no real crime.”

“His prosecution was a disgrace, his conviction a travesty, and his imprisonment an outrage,” Pallas added. “This pardon doesn’t just free him—it exposes the politically driven witch hunt that never should have happened.”

The Associated Press contributed.