The feds, citing Trump’s pardon, dropped charges against Carlos Ayala on January 6

A former state election board member accused of participating in the January 6, 2021 insurrection will not face trial following a full pardon issued by President Donald Trump on Monday.

Federal prosecutors filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss the charges against Carlos Ayala in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The two-paragraph motion cited as the reason for the dismissal the “executive order of January 20, 2025, granting pardons and commutations of sentences for certain crimes related to the events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021.”

Trump’s motion to dismiss was filed a day after Trump pardoned 1,500 people charged or convicted of crimes related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol as part of a mob whipped into a frenzy by Trump and his false claims that the election was stolen from him.

They marched on the U.S. Capitol and launched a violent attack as the House and Senate met to ratify the results of the 2020 election, in which Joseph Biden defeated then-President Trump, an incumbent Republican. Since then, Trump has tried to rename the event Love Day.

Ayala, 53, was arrested in January 2024 in connection with the assault. In 13-page indictmentAyala was charged with disorderly conduct, a felony, and related misdemeanors.

Trump pardons 1,500 defendants accused of attacking the US Capitol on January 6

The indictment said Ayala was among a group of rioters who illegally gathered on restricted Capitol grounds near scaffolding erected for the inauguration of Biden, who was then president-elect, on Jan. 20, 2021. Federal officials said Ayala was wearing a hooded sweatshirt tightly clamped on his head, a gray 3M-style painting mask with large filters on each cheek and sometimes carried a distinctive black and white flag attached to a PVC pipe flagpole inscribed with the words “We the People” and “DEFEND”.

The flag contained an image of an M-16 type rifle.

Additionally, prosecutors said Ayala was seen on video climbing police barricades onto the Capitol’s Upper West Terrace as rioters breached police lines on steps adjacent to the scaffolding. Ayala then allegedly walked to the front of the crowd gathered at the Senate side of the doors of the Capitol. Surveillance footage from the Capitol near the side doors of the Senate shows Ayala waving the flag from one of the windows next to the door.

A Capitol Police officer tried to pull Ayala away from the window. Prosecutors alleged that Ayala ignored the warning and moved into an opening in the Senate wing that had been breached by rioters.

Video footage from inside the Capitol building showed a rioter positioned to the right of the Senate wing doors – the same spot where Ayala was. A rioter could be seen stabbing an officer with a flag and pole.

According to court records, the flag matched the description of Ayala’s flag.

Police bodycam footage also allegedly showed Ayala walking in front of a line of officers shouting, “Join us!”

As a result of the indictment, among others, Ayala resigned from his position at the Maryland State Board of Elections. The resignation also led to calls to reform the way board members are selected and bring closer scrutiny from the Senate committee that considers the nominations.