The short version
- Federal authorities arrested Cleveland Meredith on Monday, alleging he made true threats against federal judges involved in prosecuting January 6 defendants.
- Meredith was previously sentenced to 28 months for threatening former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but was pardoned by Donald Trump in early 2025 as part of a mass clemency order.
- Prosecutors argue that recent social media posts calling for violence and executions constitute a pattern of harassment, leading to a motion for continued detention.
Cleveland Meredith, a North Carolina resident who was pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 Capitol attack, has been arrested on new federal charges. The arrest stems from allegations that Meredith posted messages on social media calling for the execution of federal judges who presided over cases related to the 2021 insurrection. Federal prosecutors in Georgia, where the digital communications originated, filed a complaint asserting that these posts constituted true threats under the law.
According to the government’s filing, Meredith made an April post on Facebook stating that all federal judges involved in January 6 trials would be executed. The complaint further alleges that he posted additional threatening messages last month following the midterm elections. These later communications reportedly included calls for violence and references to firing squads commencing on November 4, 2026, alongside descriptions of the election results as a massacre.
Prosecutors contend that Meredith knowingly sent these messages with the intent to threaten or while consciously disregarding the substantial risk that his posts would be interpreted as threats. They cite his history of violent online rhetoric as evidence of this intent. The government argues that the April post was part of a broader campaign of harassment targeting individuals and institutions, which has persisted for at least sixteen months.
Meredith’s legal troubles date back to December 2021, when he pleaded guilty to making a threat against then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison for that offense. Prosecutors noted that while Meredith traveled from Colorado to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, car trouble caused him to arrive late, meaning he missed the direct confrontation at the Capitol building.
Despite missing the breach itself, Meredith had posted detailed strategies for the insurrection in the days leading up to the event. His social media activity included advice to appear weak and disorganized before striking, as well as plans to surround the capital. On January 6, he posted messages declaring wartime conditions and expressing an intent to collect heads of traitors.
The threat against Pelosi was communicated via text message to a relative the day after the riot. That relative alerted Meredith’s mother, an interior designer whose work has been featured in Southern Living magazine, who subsequently contacted the FBI. Agents tracked Meredith to a hotel near the Capitol and discovered a 9mm semi-automatic firearm, an assault-style rifle with a telescopic sight, approximately 2,500 rounds of ammunition, and large-capacity magazines in his trailer.
In early 2025, shortly after returning to office, President Trump issued a mass executive clemency order that pardoned Meredith along with nearly 1,600 other individuals charged or convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the Capitol assault. This pardon cleared Meredith’s previous conviction but did not shield him from new criminal allegations arising from his subsequent conduct.
Federal authorities have indicated that Meredith has been under scrutiny since July 2025, when he was referred to the FBI for making a threat against an unnamed individual. During an interview with bureau agents, Meredith acknowledged making the statements but denied that they were threatening in nature. Prosecutors now argue that this pattern of behavior justifies holding him in detention pending further legal proceedings.
Meredith previously operated Car Nutz, a car-wash business in the Atlanta area, which gained notoriety in 2018 for sponsoring a billboard linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory. When asked about the association, Meredith told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he supported freedom and independent thought. His case highlights ongoing tensions regarding the reintegration of pardoned January 6 defendants into society and the legal boundaries of online speech.
The government’s motion for detention emphasizes the severity of the alleged threats and the potential danger posed by Meredith to the judicial system. As legal proceedings move forward, the case will test how federal courts handle new criminal allegations against individuals who have received presidential pardons for prior offenses related to the same political events.
Sources behind this briefing
Go to the original reporting
- The Guardian World↗Pardoned January 6 participant charged over alleged threats to kill federal judges
