A group of cleared January 6 rioters claim they were turned away from The Conservative Political Action Conference on Wednesday night – despite being cleared by President Trump upon taking office.
Among those stopped at the entrance to CPAC in Washington, DC, was Richard Barnett, who was famously photographed with his feet on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s inside her Capitol office as rioters ransacked the building.
‘They are targeting pre-registered J6. They escorted me out of CPAC this morning,’ he told DailyMail.com.
Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, whose 22-year sentence was wiped by Trump’s pardon, was also turned away at the door.
However, both were later admitted into the event.
‘It’s already been lifted. I can go get my ticket,’ Tarrio told DailyMail.com by phone from the Capitol.
After Barnett’s posts started circulating online, the group denied there was any such policy in place and celebrated their cause.
‘It is untrue that we are not allowing people to come to CPAC because of their involvement with J6. In fact, CPAC has been a constant supporter of this persecuted community and we support wholeheartedly President Trump’s pardons of the J6 victims. The registration link is active,’ CPAC posted.
On Thursday morning inside the convention attached to the Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor Maryland, it was clear there was no such ban in place.
Among those formerly incarcerated for their actions on January 6 who made it to the huge venue on the Potomac River was Michael Curzio – who calls himself a member of the ‘J6 OG’ as one of the first locked up.
On Thursday, he posed inside CPAC’s exhibit hall in front of a fake ‘Deportation Center’ that had images of President Trump and border czar Tom Homan.
He pleaded guilty to unlawfully protesting inside the Capitol when lawmakers met to count the electoral votes for president, and served a six-month sentence. Prior to that, Curzio served eight years after pleading guilty to shooting his ex girlfriend’s new boyfriend.
Asked about pardons for those who were captured on video battling with police, sometimes with sticks and poles, he countered: ‘You don’t know what those cops did.’
He said he was thrilled to have received a pardon for federal crimes from President Trump, although he still does not have his voting rights restored due to his prior conviction in Florida.
‘We were the original first ones to be arrested,’ he said. ‘They were looking like for this unicorn photo of me fighting with a cop or breaking something. I’ve got a real bad rep – they’ve got me labeled as a white supremacist and everything,’ he said.
Curzio said the pardon was ‘cool’, but it had its limits because of his prior conviction. ‘I’m still a convicted felon, I still can’t vote,’ he said.
A violent encounter from his past is what keeps him from all the benefits of citizenship,. ‘On paper it looks real bad, but nobody knows the situation. ‘ he said, recounting his conviction of attempted first degree murder inside his home. ‘I shot somebody and paralyzed him,’ he said.
Also inside CPAC and savoring the moment was Ahron Mostofsky, whose image was blasted around the world on January 6, in part due to the unusual costume he wore just outside the U.S. Senate chamber.
The two men embraced upon learning that each was a January 6 defendant.
‘This is what made me famous,’ Mostofsky said, flashing his own phone snap of the event, taken inside the Capitol that day. Mostofsky, who an Orthodox Jew, explained that he had conceived the costume during a celebration of the Jewish holiday Purim. He said he planned to wear it as ‘my one chance as an old school cave man.’
He appreciates the pardon, after spending time in the Special Housing Unit of at the upstate New York prison in Otisville, New York. He also did time in Danbury, Connecticut.
He didn’t need the pardon to exercise his franchise. ‘I live in New York. Felons can vote. I was able to vote for Trump. I went to Madison Square Garden. The next day, I voted,’ he said.
He said he was hesitant to come to CPAC last year. ‘All of us are out. We can kind of commiserate. The war is over,’ he said.
Also posting about the supposed ban was Edward ‘Jake’ Lang, who live-streamed his encounter with CPAC staff, saying he was ‘just released from the DC Gulag.’ He said he bought 22 tickets ‘for all my Jan 6 brothers.’