The highest-profile defendant of the Capitol riot from North Texas left prison after President Donald Trump granted clemency to hundreds of January 6 defendants.

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, and Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys, have been released from prison after their lengthy sentences for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.

Soon after being sworn-in on Monday, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation granting clemency to more than 1,500 charged in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. It had long been expected that Trump would grant clemency to many Jan.

Trump's blanket order came the same day that Joe Biden used the final minutes of his presidency to issue pre-emptive pardons for his brothers and sister, as well as members of the US House of Representatives committee whose investigation into the Capitol riot concluded Trump was to blame.

Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio were released from serving lengthy prison terms for convictions of seditious conspiracy.

Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio were among the most prominent January 6 defendants had received some of the harshest punishments.

Rhodes was found guilty of orchestrating a weekslong plot that culminated in his followers attacking the US Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Trump in power.

U.S. Capitol, and Tarrio and Rhodes received the longest sentences of anyone charged in the attack. Both men were prosecuted for helping plan the insurrection, and both were convicted of seditious conspiracy.

The return of battle-hardened leaders ... will further radicalize and fuel recruitment platforms,” said Jacob Ware, a Council on Foreign Relations research fellow.

Trump's actions were the latest step in his drive to overhaul Washington and erase the work of President Joe Biden's administration.