President Donald Trump granted clemency to roughly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Two men from the Pacific Northwest serving prison sentences for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot have been released from federal custody, less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump granted clemency to roughly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol.
Reed Christensen walked out of the federal detention facility in Forrest City, Arkansas early Tuesday morning, according to his lawyer. The Hillsboro man thanked President Trump as “a politician who keeps his word” in a statement provided through his lawyer.
Christensen was serving a 46-month sentence after being convicted by a federal jury in September 2023 of one felony and seven misdemeanors, including civil disorder, and three misdemeanor counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.
Prosecutors claimed the 66-year-old was pepper sprayed after he breached a barrier of bike racks set up to prevent rioters from moving closer to the Capitol building. After receiving aid from police, prosecutors claim Christensen charged through the perimeter and struggled with officers.
Christensen, a U.S. Army veteran and former Intel employee, ran for Oregon governor in the 2022 Republican primary.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons also confirmed that Benjamin Silva of Yacolt, Washington was released on Monday after being pardoned by President Trump. The 37-year-old had been serving four months in federal prison in Lompoc, California.
Silva pleaded guilty in September 2024 to a felony charge of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder. Federal prosecutors claimed Silva was part of a group of rioters who participated in a “heave-ho” push against a line of police inside a tunnel entrance to the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Several other Jan. 6 defendants from Oregon will avoid prison time thanks to President Trump’s pardons.
Last week, a federal judge sentenced Andy Steven Oliva-Lopez to 51 months in prison after the Milwaukie, Oregon man pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.
Federal prosecutors claimed the 37-year-old wore a full-face respirator mask when he sprayed orange bear spray at the faces and heads of police officers outside the Capitol building.
A pair of brothers from Pendleton were also pardoned. Jonathan Peter Klein was supposed to serve nine months in federal prison after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement and other offenses. His brother Matthew Klein of Pendleton was sentenced to 90 days in prison for felony and misdemeanor charges.
Their pardons will prevent them from having to serve any time behind bars for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
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