By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-06 21:05:42 | Updated at 2025-01-10 21:11:01
4 days ago
A January 6 rioter claims he crossed illegally into Canada to snowboard as he awaits a presidential pardon by Donald Trump.
Antony Vo, 32, was sentenced last year to nine months in prison for his involvement in the 2021 riot at the Capitol after he admitted to 'storming' Congress with his mom on social media.
Instead of reporting to jail in June, Vo tried getting political asylum in various countries including Vietnam, Belarus and Russia, he told the Toronto Star.
When that did not work, he decided to illegally cross into Canada in July before applying for asylum and taking refuge at a Buddhist research institute in Alberta. He settled in Whistler, where he is spending his time snowboarding.
Vo, from Indiana, told the Star he is now '99 percent sure' that president-elect Donald Trump will pardon him when he takes office on January.
'I really don’t have any reason to doubt it ... it’s definitely a priority for him,' Von said.
Trump has suggested in the past that he will pardon some of the January 6 rioters, telling CNN he is 'inclined to pardon many of them,' though not all of them.
'I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control,' he told CNN.
Antony Vo was sentenced to nine months in prison for his involvement in the 2021 riot at the Capitol. He illegally traveled to Canada to wait for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump
Vo shared the above image from Whistler, where is is awaiting a pardon or political asylum
While Vo's claim of asylum is yet to be heard, it's unlikely it will be successful as Canada still considers the US a functional democracy.
Currently Vo would most likely be seen as a 'fugitive from justice,' law professor at Queen’s University Sharry Aiken told the Star.
Bu Vo said he intends to return to the US once he has been pardoned - and plans on putting up a fight if the US tries to extradite him before that.
'For good reason, Canada has mechanisms that prevent removal of people without some kind of process where the person says, "I’m facing mistreatment in my home country, I’m a political dissident and I’m being subject to unlawful price persecution,"' he said.
Vo claims that he and his mother only went inside the Capitol once police had cleared the rioters away - and that they left as soon as an officer told them to do so.
However, Vo said online that he and his mom had 'helped stop the vote count (to certify president Joe Biden's 2020 win) for a bit.'
He also wrote: 'President (Trump) asked me to be here tomorrow so I am with my mom LOL.'
Vo is one of over 1,500 people across the US who have been charged with federal crimes related to the deadly riot.
Vo is one of over 1,500 people across the US who have been charged with federal crimes related to the deadly riot
Vo claims he and his mother only went inside the Capitol after police had cleared rioters out
Hundreds of people who did not engage in destruction or violence were charged only with misdemeanor offenses for entering the Capitol illegally. Others were charged with felony offenses, including assault for beating police officers.
Leaders of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys extremist groups were convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as plots to use violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power from Trump, a Republican, to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
About 250 people have been convicted of crimes by a judge or a jury after a trial. Only two people were acquitted of all charges by judges after bench trials. No jury has fully acquitted a Capitol riot defendant. At least 1,020 others had pleaded guilty as of January 1.
More than 1,000 rioters have already been sentenced, with over 700 receiving at least some time behind bars. The rest were given some combination of probation, community service, home detention or fines.
The longest sentence, 22 years, went to former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy along with three lieutenants.
A California man with a history of political violence got 20 years in prison for repeatedly attacking police with flagpoles and other makeshift weapons during the riot.
And Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is serving an 18-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy and other offenses.
Vo said online that he and his mom had 'helped stop the vote count [to certify president Joe Biden's 2020 win] for a bit'
The Justice Department says prosecutors are still evaluating nearly 200 riot cases investigated by the FBI
More than 100 January 6 defendants are scheduled to stand trial in 2025, while at least 168 riot defendants are set to be sentenced this year.
The FBI has continued to arrest people on Capitol riot charges since Trump’s electoral victory in November.
The Justice Department says prosecutors are still evaluating nearly 200 riot cases investigated by the FBI, including more than 60 cases in which the suspects are accused of assaulting or interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol.
January 6 trials, guilty pleas and sentencings have continued chugging along in Washington’s federal court despite Trump’s promise to pardon rioters, whom he has called 'political prisoners' and 'hostages' he contends were treated too harshly.
Now Trump’s return to power has thrown into question the future of the more than 1,500 federal cases brought over the last four years.
