David Daniel, involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot in the US and pardoned by former President Donald Trump, is preparing to plead guilty in federal court to charges of child abuse and child pornography. In the ongoing case at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, it is stated that Daniel forced a child under 12 to produce sexually explicit images in 2015 and 2016. According to court documents, Daniel also encouraged another victim under 18 to produce similar sexually explicit images.
Daniel was also charged with assaulting law enforcement officers during the January 6 events and had pleaded guilty to that charge. However, the court ruled that Trump's pardon does not apply to child abuse charges and decided that the case related to these charges will continue. It is known that other pardoned January 6 defendants also face similar child abuse charges.
These developments have reignited debates about the scope and limits of the pardons granted after the January 6 events. The Trump administration stated that while pardons were applied for some crimes, offenses such as child abuse were excluded from the pardon scope. The date when Daniel will be sentenced has not yet been determined.