Pardoned Jan. 6ers are losing patience with the FBI
A small but vocal group of right-wing influencers is attacking top officials at the Justice Department and FBI for not conducting mass arrests of Democrats, forcing other prominent online conservatives to speak out in defense of President Donald Trump’s appointees.
Jan. 6 Capitol rioter Philip Anderson is leading the charge against the administration’s Justice Department leadership, targeting Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
Anderson began calling for arrests of “democrat criminals” in early February, shortly after Trump’s inauguration. But his campaign gained steam earlier this month after Patel promoted longtime FBI staffer and Capitol riot investigator Steve Jensen—a move that angered prominent rioters.
“Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and Dan Bongino at the very least must arrest a small handful of democrat criminals before the midterm elections,” Anderson wrote Thursday afternoon. “Arrest the democrat criminals or RESIGN.”
Despite dozens of posts on the topic over the last two months, Anderson is yet to specify which Democrats he would like to see in handcuffs.
Most likely because he probably wants them all jailed.
He and his supporters have drawn upon what they see as the persecution of the Capitol rioters to make their case for settling scores, hoping to see those who put Biden in office that day behind bars.
Self-proclaimed “J6 Freedom Fighter” Suzzanne Monk has been posting daily comparisons on X between the number of “traitors” arrested under the Biden and Trump administrations at this same point in their respective terms.
“By this date, 4/23, the Biden regime had already arrested 422 January 6th defendants,” Monk wrote Thursday, using a number which roughly squares with official data. “We elected Trump to round up the actual traitors who took over the government on 1/6/21, certifying a stolen election. Not happening so far.”
The problem here is that people like Anderson and Monk really did storm the Capitol, whereas Democrats certified an election that has largely been litigated as fair, and which a number of Republican politicians voted for as well.
The Justice Department has targeted liberal protesters for vandalizing Teslas, but those efforts haven’t been enough to satiate the thirst for mass arrests.
“Pam is the new Sheriff in town who won’t arrest a democrat criminal unless they fire bomb a Tesla on video!” Anderson posted earlier this week, alongside a mock-up of a Pam Bondi “inaction figure.”
As Jan. 6ers with major social media platforms attack the Justice Department for its perceived inaction, other Trump supporters are running cover for Patel and Bongino. (Bondi, who came into the Trump administration with less far-right street cred, and who has upset the faithful with her Epstein foibles, isn’t getting quite so much love.)
“These two men are what we wanted at the FBI, now we have it, and people are upset that after a month every single problem hasn't been completely fixed yet,” one MAGA influencer posted.
“If you can trust anyone in government right now, it’s @dbongino,” one right-wing journalist said. “The FBI has never been in better hands.”
While these more mainstream right-wing personalities plead for patience and confidence, other influencers see a clear rupture in the MAGA universe between those who trust the process and those who want to see their perceived enemies behind bars as soon as possible.
“I believe it is going to become VERY clear that MAGA is indeed NOT a cult,” one pro-arrest commentator wrote on X. “There is going to be a lot of very pissed off MAGA folks if we do not see obvious arrests.”
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