Jason Riddle of Keene was sentenced to 90 days in jail for participating in the Jan. 6 riots. Now, he is working with Sen. Maggie Hassan's office to officially deny President Donald Trump’s pardon, offered to all those charged for participating in that day’s attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
“I deserve to have gone to prison, and I don't deserve to have been pardoned for that,” Riddle said.
“And the fact that the pardon is coming from the person that caused the crimes that put me in prison is absurd, and I want no part of it,” he added, explaining that he thinks Trump is to blame for instigating the Jan. 6 riot.
Riddle worked with his lawyer to reject the pardon, but they were quickly at a loss on what was the necessary procedure.
“We thought it was as easy as emailing the pardon office, but they've never responded,” Riddle said.
He got the idea to contact Hassan’s office by following the case of Pamela Hemphill, a woman from Idaho was the first to reject the presidential pardon for Jan. 6 rioters.
After some back and forth with Hassan’s office, Riddle has now officially submitted a pardon denial request. On Monday, Hassan’s office sent the request to the Department of Justice, with further correspondence to follow.
“Hopefully, this is the start of a procedure that other people who were also at the riot will also turn their part in,” Riddle said.
Earlier this year, Riddle spoke to NHPR about how the attack on the Capitol changed his relationship with Trump and his followers. After getting out of prison, Riddle was disappointed to see Trump using social media to spur more protests.
“Trump had gotten indicted and he put on social media asking people to come out and protest for him,” he said then. “And that's when I had the epiphany, the ‘duh’ moment, where I'm like, 'He asked this because he doesn't care about anybody other than himself.'”
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