A former candidate for a Michigan city council seat was convicted of repeatedly hitting an officer in the head with a “Trump” flag draped flagpole during the riots at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Jeremy Rodgers, 26, was found guilty on Thursday in a bench trial before U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee. Rodgers was convicted of assault on a federal officer, civil disorder, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and picketing in the Capitol building.
Rodgers approached a line of officers guarding the East Rotunda Door that day and struck a Capitol officer three times on the helmet with the flagpole, which was attached to a blue “Trump” flag. The prosecutors described the blows as powerful.
They were audible in videos of the assault, and the officer later told investigators he felt every strike to his head through an ill-fitting helmet and experienced vertigo and dizziness that day, according to court documents.
During the melee, the defendant attempted to use the flagpole to prevent officers from closing the East Rotunda Door, through which he entered the Capitol building at 2:26 p.m.
Inside, Rodgers removed a railing that was blocking the crowd behind him, saying, “Come on in,” before standing aside and shouting, “USA, USA,” as he waved people toward the House Chamber.
Later, he got into another altercation with police and paraded through the Rotunda waving his flag before exiting at 2:56 p.m.
Rodgers was arrested in Orlando, Florida, on June 30, 2023, after the FBI received multiple tips from people who knew him and identified him as AFO #242, also known as “The Freshman Flagger” on Twitter.
According to the Midland Daily News, the defendant was a unicycle-riding Republican figure in his hometown who ran for Midland City Council once in 2020.
“Jeremy Rodgers was very much a presence in the local party from the time that I became a member of the party in 2018 until the word that he was charged became public,” Midland County Clerk Ann Manary told the newspaper.
He is one of several defendants seeking to have their cases dismissed as Trump — who has promised to pardon “political prisoners” — returns to the White House in January.
Rodgers’ attorney, William Shipley, filed a motion this week for reconsideration to continue all matters after the judge denied his previous motion, citing two recent developments as reasons to postpone it.
“The question as to how this case proceeds forward involves the continued exercise of prosecutorial discretion by the Biden Justice Department,” Shipley wrote in her statement.
“On December 1, 2024, President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was awaiting sentencing for 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,” according to him.