How many people were ultimately charged in federal court for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and what were the main charges?
Executive summary
Roughly 1,400–1,600 people were charged in federal court in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and the federal docket included a mix of misdemeanors (unlawful entry, disorderly conduct), felonies (obstruction of an official proceeding), assault and weapons charges, and a smaller set of high-profile conspiracy and seditious-conspiracy prosecutions tied to extremist groups (Oath Keepers, Proud Boys) [1] [2] [3]. Prosecutors built cases around a core obstruction statute plus traditional assault, property, and trespass offenses while political and legal debates about pardons and classification of defendants continued to shape public perceptions [2] [4] [5].
1. Scope: how many people were charged federally
Different official tallies and reputable trackers converge on a large, evolving total: by mid-to-late 2024 more than 1,400 people had been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol attack, other reporting and trackers cited as many as roughly 1,583 arrests and 1,270 convictions by the fourth anniversary—numbers that reflect arrests, sealed indictments and some double-counting risks between arrest and formal charging datasets [1] [2] [3]. The Justice Department’s U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. reported hundreds of guilty pleas and trials while noting approximately 1,417 defendants were charged with entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds, underscoring that the investigation became the largest in modern U.S. history [4] [2].
2. The central federal charge: obstruction of an official proceeding
Prosecutors frequently relied on 18 U.S.C. §1512(c), the obstruction of an official proceeding statute, to pursue felony liability for efforts that disrupted the congressional certification of the Electoral College results; that obstruction count became the legal anchor for many of the more serious felony prosecutions [2] [3]. Alongside obstruction, defendants faced charges for conspiring to obstruct, aiding and abetting, and related federal counts when the government alleged organized, coordinated efforts rather than merely isolated trespasses [2].
3. The common charges: trespass, disorderly conduct, assault, and property crimes
The bulk of cases began as or included misdemeanor counts such as entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly conduct—charges that the government said were often paired with more serious offenses when there was evidence of assault, theft, or property damage [2] [4]. Hundreds of defendants were also charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers, and the public record and prosecutorial statements emphasize dozens of alleged physical assaults on officers that remain the focus of continuing identification efforts [6] [4].
4. High-profile conspiracies and seditious-conspiracy cases
A smaller but consequential subset of prosecutions targeted organized groups and alleged plots: leaders and members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys faced seditious-conspiracy and related conspiracy charges, and several of those defendants received lengthy sentences after contested trials, marking the most serious criminal characterizations in the docket [3] [2]. These seditious-conspiracy convictions were central to claims by prosecutors that certain defendants intended to prevent the peaceful transfer of power through coordinated criminal conduct [3].
5. Outcomes, convictions, and the political overlay of pardons
By late 2024 and into early 2025 many hundreds had pleaded guilty and been sentenced—Wikipedia and other trackers reported over 900 convictions by August 2024 and more than 1,000 convictions by the fourth anniversary—yet the subsequent mass pardon and commutation actions by President Trump dramatically altered the practical consequences for many defendants and prompted new litigation and political debate about accountability [1] [3] [5]. Critics and supporters offered competing frames—public-safety concerns about repeat offenders versus claims the prosecutions were politically motivated—illustrating how legal outcomes have been rapidly entangled with partisan agendas [7] [8].
6. Limits of available public reporting and what's left to resolve
Public tallies remain dynamic because of sealed indictments, pending trials, and evolving executive actions; reporting makes clear the overall scale and the principal charge types but cannot, from the sources provided, deliver a single immutable “final” count because different agencies and trackers published slightly different snapshots and some post-conviction developments (pardons, dismissals) changed case statuses [2] [1]. The record also shows unresolved investigative work—dozens of alleged assailants remain unidentified and statute-of-limitations timing was a continuing operational concern for prosecutors [6] [4].