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WASHINGTON — <\/span>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A federal judge has dismissed<\/a> the remnants of the government’s landmark case<\/a> against far-right Proud Boys members who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to attack the Capitol<\/a> to keep President Donald Trump in the White House more than five years ago.<\/p>\n The case’s dismissal late Friday became a foregone conclusion when Trump last year used his pardon powers<\/a> to erase every case that the government prosecuted after a mob of his supporters stormed the building<\/a> on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge who presided over the Proud Boys leaders’ trial saw no basis to preserve the convictions after Trump’s sweeping act of clemency last year.<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump nominated during his first term, said there is \u201clittle mystery\u201d about why the second Trump administration decided to abandon this case and every other Jan. 6 riot case<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 \u2014 whether those views are based on fact or fiction \u2014 are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them,\u201d Kelly wrote.<\/p>\n The judge stressed that his order should not be mistaken as an endorsement of the Department of Justice’s decision to abandon the case. He referred to the Capitol riot as \u201ca perilous event\u201d and an assault on the constitutional imperative for a peaceful transfer of power between presidents.<\/p>\n \u201cMoving forward, if this Nation\u2019s experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people \u2014 no matter their partisan preferences \u2014 will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,\u201d Kelly wrote.<\/p>\n Juries in the nation’s capital separately convicted leaders of the Proud Boys and another extremist group, the antigovernment Oath Keepers, of orchestrating violent plots<\/a> to keep Trump, a Republican, in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.<\/p>\n A different judge has not ruled yet on the Justice Department\u2019s related request<\/a> to throw out Oath Keepers’ seditious conspiracy convictions.<\/p>\n Friday’s ruling applied to four of five Proud Boys members who were convicted after a jury trial:<\/a> Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. Trump commuted their prison sentences, but they were not covered by the president’s mass pardons. <\/p>\n Former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio was convicted at the same trial but received a pardon from Trump. Kelly had sentenced Tarrio to 22 years<\/a>, the longest prison term in any Capitol riot case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n