Jan 6 rioter, freed after Trump's pardon, rearrested for possession of gun

Daniel Ball, from Florida, is accused of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, around May 2023.

Daniel Ball, a man freed after US President Donald Trump granted full pardon to more than 1,500 people – his supporters – charged for the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot, was rearrested on Wednesday on a pending federal charge related to possession of a firearm.

Rioters appear at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP file)

Ball is accused of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, around May 2023.

According to reports, the new indictment of Ball, who is from Florida, has no mention of the January 6 charges, as these were wiped from his record thanks to Trump.

However, his two previous convictions – one each for domestic violence battery strangulation in June 2017 and battering and resisting law enforcement with violence (October 2021) – are detailed in the charging papers, the reports said.

The Florida native appears to be the first US Capitol rioter facing additional legal trouble. Also, his was the first arrest warrant filed publicly in Washington D.C., following the start of Trump's second term.

Ball's role in Capitol attack

In May 2023, Daniel Ball was charged with 12 counts, including assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a ‘dangerous’ weapon and using explosives to commit a felony.

Prosecutors have accused him of working with other rioters to ‘violently push’ against police, in addition to throwing an ‘explosive device,’ which detonated on 25 officers.

Ball's trial was scheduled to commence on January 6, coincidentally the fourth anniversary of the Capitol riot, but was deferred by the judge in October last year.