Garland claims 'unrelenting integrity,' protection of civil rights in 1,583 January 6 arrests

Attorney General Merrick Garland touted the U.S. Department of Justice’s commitment to the “civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country” and expressed pride in the arrest of 1,583 people on the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6 protest and riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The DOJ, in the final Jan. 6 statistical report under Garland’s tenure, said the FBI has arrested 1,583 people on Jan. 6 charges across four years. Nearly 320 people were arrested in the past year alone. More arrests and filing of charges are expected before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes the oath of office on Jan. 20. It is widely anticipated that Trump will pardon Jan. 6 defendants.

'My family has been devastated by the government over the last four years.'

Garland praised the DOJ prosecutors and other staff who carried out the massive investigation and prosecution of J6ers.

Staff “have sought to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6 attack on our democracy with unrelenting integrity,” Garland said. “They have conducted themselves in a manner that adheres to the rule of law and honors our obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country.”

Garland’s take was at odds with the sentiments of Jan. 6 defendants who took to social media on the fourth anniversary.

“This has been a difficult four years, not just for me, but for people all across this country,” said Marine Corps veteran Christopher Kuehne in a video he posted on X. “My family has been devastated by the government over the last four years. The consistent persecution, the jail sentences, the loss of life in our family, and it’s because of people like you that I’m still carrying on.”

Kuehne and his wife, Annette, lost their unborn child the day after an FBI SWAT team raided their Kansas home in 2021. He is still on home detention after being released from his 75-day prison sentence in November 2024. He accepted a plea agreement on one count of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder.

Incomplete death count

In a statement released by the DOJ, Garland lamented “the five officers who lost their lives in the line of duty” as a result of Jan. 6, 2021. He did not name the officers.

No police died on Jan. 6.

Capitol Police Officer Brian David Sicknick, 42, died on Jan. 7 after suffering two strokes that the medical examiner ruled were of natural causes.

Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood, 51, and Metropolitan Police Department Officers Jeffrey Louis Smith, 35; Gunther Paul Hashida, 43; and Kyle Hendrik DeFreytag, 26, died by suicide in the seven months after Jan. 6. Their departments and the DOJ have recognized the deaths as being in the line of duty. All were working on Jan. 6, 2021.

Garland did not mention the four Donald J. Trump supporters who died on Jan. 6: Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt, 35, who was killed by USCP Lt. Michael L. Byrd; Rosanne Marie Boyland, 34, who died of asphyxiation after a stampede in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel; Kevin Greeson, 55, who died of cardiac arrest; and Benjamin J. Philips, 50, who died of a stroke.

Bystanders use bicycle racks as a makeshift gurney to carry a lifeless Benjamin J. Philips to an ambulance on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

Nor did Garland mention the five Jan. 6 defendants who took their own lives during the prosecution of their cases: Matthew Lawrence Perna, 37; David Kennedy Homol, 55; Nejourde Thomas “Jord” Meacham, 22; Mark Robert Aungst, 47; and Christopher Stanton Georgia, 53.

Geri Perna, Matthew Perna’s aunt who has lobbied Congress for reform of the DOJ, said the fourth anniversary of Jan. 6 has been difficult.

“J6ers will get their lives back,” Perna told Blaze News. “I lost Matt and my brother. They are never coming back. I feel cheated.”

Matthew Perna hung himself in his garage in February 2022 shortly after learning that the DOJ planned to seek years in prison for his four guilty pleas. Geri Perna said the D.C. judicial process wore her nephew down and left him with a broken heart.

Matthew Perna with his grandfather, Henry Perna, and during an online business presentation. Despondent over his treatment by prosecutors, Matthew Perna hung himself on Feb. 25, 2022.Photos courtesy of Geri Perna

His father, Lawrence Perna, was crushed by Matthew’s death, Geri Perna said.

“Matt’s dad deteriorated before my eyes and is dead, two years after Matt,” Geri Perna said. “I will never get over it.”

Lawrence Perna, 68, died on July 26, 2024, in Port Charlotte, Fla.

“After Matthew’s death, Larry became a prayer warrior for many January 6 defendants who were unjustly persecuted,” Geri Perna wrote in her brother’s obituary. “He talked regularly with several people and texted often.

“He offered encouragement and kept their names next to his Bible on his daily prayer list,” she wrote. “He knew the pain of losing a child all too well and didn’t want anyone else to experience this heartache.”

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