Trump pardoned him for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot. Now, he’s at Georgia’s Gold Dome

“I believe anybody has a voice. Freedom of speech is one of the most essentials in this country. It’s why the Constitution was written,” Beals told the livestreamer in an interview, adding that those who prevented Moore from entering House earlier in the month “should be fired immediately.”

When asked to speak about the leadership at the Capitol, a smile crept onto Beals’ face.

“You are standing in Atlanta, Georgia. Libtard central,” he said, using a derogatory term for a person who holds liberal views.

Moore, who has courted controversy by calling fellow Republican leaders “tyrants” and “RINOs,” short for “Republicans in Name Only,” said he welcomed the support of those who came out to the Capitol.

“”I’m glad to have supporters. I wouldn’t be here without supporters,” he said.

But he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he does not know Beals, who did not respond to multiple attempts by the AJC to reach him for comment.

Since Trump issued blanket pardons for people accused and convicted of crimes during the U.S. Capitol riot, defendants have started reengaging in political activism. That’s worried some extremism experts.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was found guilty following a jury trial in 2022 of seditious conspiracy and other charges, showed up at a Trump rally in Las Vegas standing behind the president just a few days after being released from prison. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial, gave an interview to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones following his release from federal prison, where he expressed a desire for “retribution” against those who investigated and prosecuted him.

According to court records, the 53-year-old Beals was among the rioters on Jan. 6 who broke through police lines on the Lower West Terrace outside the Capitol. Once through, he climbed the scaffolding erected for Joe Biden’s inauguration and entered the Capitol building twice, spending less than a combined 15 minutes inside, authorities said.

Credit: U.S. Department of Justice

Credit: U.S. Department of Justice

Beals was not accused of violence on Jan. 6, but he has what one federal prosecutor called “a horrendous criminal history” prior to the riot including charges of assault, auto theft and burglary, among other charges.

Along with the Three Percenters, the FBI and federal prosecutors said Beals has associated — before and since his Jan. 6 arrest — with extremists, including participating in a protest alongside members of the neo-Nazi Patriot Front.

Beals was sentenced to 90 days’ home detention and three years’ probation, a fairly standard sentence among Jan. 6 defendants for the misdemeanor plea, but the record of that conviction was wiped away by Trump’s pardon.

Credit: U.S. Department of Justice

Credit: U.S. Department of Justice

Jon Lewis, a senior research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, said the Jan. 6 defendants and their supporters, including some member of Congress, are emboldened by the blanket pardons Trump handed down hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration. Many quickly turned their thoughts toward vengeance, he said.

“This is a subset of 1,500 individuals who now have a pretty strong grievance against the government,” he said. “Many of them lost their jobs, had jail sentences, had their lives fundamentally changed in one way or another. This creates the cognitive opening for radicalization or further radicalization.”

Lewis said the moves by Trump appointees to investigate the FBI agents who investigated Jan. 6 suspects is throwing gasoline on a dangerous fire.

“Not only is it the vindication of all these individuals, not only is it justifying all of their conspiracies and their far-fetched plots of the deep state and antifa, not only do they feel that everything has been proven true, they are firmly focused on what happens next,” he said. “It’s pretty concerning how quickly the focus turns to vengeance.”