Jeremy Rodgers (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
A former candidate for a city council position in Michigan was convicted of assaulting an officer by repeatedly striking the officer’s head with a flagpole bearing a “Trump” flag during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The individual, Jeremy Rodgers, aged 26, was declared guilty in a bench trial presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, who was appointed by Donald Trump. Rodgers was convicted of several charges including assault on a federal officer, civil disorder, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and picketing within a Capitol building.
Rodgers approached a group of officers stationed at the East Rotunda Door entrance on that fateful day and proceeded to strike a Capitol officer’s helmet three times with the flagpole, which bore a blue “Trump” flag. The prosecution characterized the strikes as forceful, as they were loud enough to be captured in videos of the assault. The officer later reported experiencing the impact of each strike on his head due to an inadequately fitting helmet, leading to symptoms such as vertigo and dizziness throughout the day, according to court records.
During the melee, the defendant was found to have tried to use the flagpole to keep officers from closing the East Rotunda Door and entered the Capitol building through that door at 2:26 p.m.
Inside, Rodgers removed a railing blocking the crowd behind him, saying, “come on in,” then stood aside and shouted, “USA, USA,” while waving people toward the House Chambers.
Later, he got into another scuffle with police and paraded through the Rotunda waving his flag before finally exiting the building at 2:56 p.m.
Rodgers was arrested in Orlando, Florida, on June 30, 2023, after the FBI received multiple tips from individuals who knew him personally and identified him as AFO #242, or what Twitter users called the youthful-looking man “The Freshman Flagger.”
The defendant was a unicycle-riding figure with the GOP in his hometown and a one-time candidate for Midland City Council in 2020, the Midland Daily News reported.
“Jeremy Rodgers was very much a presence in the local party from the time that I became part of the party in 2018 until the word that he was charged became public,” Midland County Clerk Ann Manary said, the newspaper reported.
He is one of a number of Jan. 6 defendants seeking to get their cases tossed as Trump — who vowed to pardon who he has called “political prisoners” — returns to the White House in January.
In a motion this week for reconsideration to continue all matters after the judge denied his previous motion, Rodgers’ attorney, William Shipley, laid out two recent developments as reasons to put it off.
“The question as to how this case proceeds forward involves the continued exercise of prosecutorial discretion by the Biden Justice Department,” Shipley wrote. “On December 1, 2024, President Biden issued a pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, who was pending sentencing based on criminal convictions in the District of Delaware and the Central District of California.
“The second development since the date of the Court’s denial of the previously filed motion has been the expressed representation on December 8, 2024, by Present-Elect Trump of his intention to provide some form of relief to individuals such as Mr. Rodgers charged in connection with the events of January 6, 2021,” he added.
