JANUARY 6  ·  2021 – TODAY

The First Fight

January 6 — where this Foundation started, and the families we are still standing beside.

The pardons came on January 20, 2025. They ended a 1,475-day ordeal and they did not end the work. Five years on, these families are still rebuilding — and we are still here.

1,575FORMER DEFENDANTS
99.6%CONVICTION RATE
211FORMERLY INCARCERATED
1,475DAYS UNTIL CLEMENCY
WHAT HAPPENED

The years nobody saw

In the months after January 6, 2021, hundreds of defendants faced pre-dawn raids on their homes, with their families bearing witness to the arrests that followed.

They were uprooted and relocated across the country, enduring relentless transfers between facilities, prolonged solitary confinement, and the denial of protections they had every right to expect. Jobs disappeared. Marriages buckled. Children grew up with a parent in a facility hundreds of miles away.

On the evening of January 20, 2025, pardons and commutations were extended to every January 6 defendant, bringing the ordeal to a close and restoring their freedom.

Legal forgiveness, though, is only the beginning. A pardon does not restore mental health, family ties, or livelihoods. It does not remove a docket from the internet, return the money a court took, or give a family back the years. That is the work that continues here.

CONTINUING PROGRAMS

What we still provide

Two programs remain open to every January 6 family, with no cost to the family and no requirement that you have ever worked with us before.

OPEN NOW

Legal Support

Counsel and filing costs for the matters that did not end with the pardon. We pay the lawyers; you are never billed for representation.

  • Ongoing civil litigation and defense
  • Record sealing, restitution recovery, and federal claims
  • Appellate matters and post-conviction relief
  • Employment, licensing, and background-check disputes
Request legal support  →
OPEN NOW

Emergency Funding

Direct, fast financial help when the ground gives out. No lengthy process and no waiting on a committee while an eviction clock runs.

  • Rent, utilities, and essential household bills
  • Vehicles and transportation to work
  • Medical, dental, and counseling costs
  • Relocation and reentry expenses
Apply for emergency funding  →
COMING SPRING 2027

The next thing we owe them

LAUNCHING SPRING 2027

The Scholarship Program

The children of January 6 families lost years of stability while their parents were prosecuted and imprisoned. Many put college on hold, or off the table entirely. Beginning in spring 2027, the Foundation will fund scholarships so that the next chapter of these families is not decided by what happened to the last one.

JOIN THE LIST TO BE NOTIFIED
THE LEGAL FIGHT

Three fronts still open

The legal work for January 6 families is carried by our Stand for Justice™ initiative, through three projects — each aimed at something the pardons left behind.

NOW ACCEPTING CASES

Project Seal

Sealing the court records of clients whose cases never reached a final judgment.

COMING SOON

Project Refund

Recovering the fines, assessments, and restitution paid to the government before the pardons.

COMING SOON

Project Repair

Federal administrative claims for families left holding paperwork for a fund that no longer exists.

IN LOVING MEMORY

Four did not come home

We keep their names, their families, and the truth of what happened to them at the center of everything we do.

Ashli Babbitt

1985 – 2021

A 14-year Air Force veteran, shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer while unarmed. Her mother, Micki Witthoeft, has advocated for answers every day since.

Rosanne Boyland

1986 – 2021

Crushed in the tunnel outside the Capitol after being pushed into a packed crowd. The circumstances of her death remain disputed to this day.

Kevin Greeson

1965 – 2021

Died of a heart attack in the crowd outside, after flashbangs and chemical agents were deployed. He never entered the Capitol building.

Benjamin Phillips

1970 – 2021

A Pennsylvania man who organized a bus so his neighbors could attend. He died of a stroke near the Capitol grounds.

Their stories remind us of the cost of freedom and the need for truth in times of crisis.

The fight did not end with the pardons

Your gift funds legal filings, emergency relief, and the long work of putting these families back together.

DONATE TO THE FIRST FIGHT

The First Fight · A program of Stand in the Gap Foundation®