Jan. 6 defendant who gave judge 'warning' granted permission to attend Trump inauguration

Jan. 6 defendant William Pope has been granted his request to attend Donald Trump's inauguration despite his bail rules.

Pope, who fired his lawyer and asked to represent himself in 2022, filed the request before the end of 2024 to delay his trial for two weeks until after the inauguration. Judge Rudolph Contreras granted it Tuesday and gave permission for him to go to D.C., Politico's Kyle Cheney wrote on BlueSky.

"Initially, I had declined an invitation to attend the inauguration (since I don't enjoy being in Washington), however, I have now been asked a second time, and I believe it would be inappropriate for me to turn this request down," Pope wrote.

ALSO READ: The terrifying implications of pardoning insurrectionists who killed and maimedPope's trial is on hold after threatening Judge Contreras with revenge.

The defendant "warn[ed]" the judge of a "cycle of retribution" and a "final opportunity to make peace," Lawfare's Roger Parloff wrote on X.

"As I look at this from a thousand-foot perspective, I find it important to renew my warning from ECF No. 329 that 'wielding extreme government force can lead to a dangerous cycle of escalating retribution as control of the government continues changing hands,'" said Pope in the request in the post-election request for a pause.

“There’s a real possibility of that happening,” Contreras said at the time.

The judge also said that trying the defendant before Trump takes power could be a waste of resources if Trump issues pardons, wrote Cheney.

The U.S. Justice Department objected to the request to travel to Washington.