Pardoned by Trump: Mainer opens up about role in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

Matthew Brackley returned to his electrical business in West Bath after serving a fraction of his 15-month prison sentence for assaulting police at the U.S. Capitol.

Matthew Brackley sat in the second-floor office of his electrical company on Wednesday as if he had never left.

But just earlier this week, he was in a federal prison in Massachusetts, serving a 15-month sentence for assaulting law enforcement during the Capitol riot.

Then the news broke Monday afternoon.

"The lieutenant called us out and said, 'President Trump is getting you guys out of here,'" Brackley said.

Early the next morning, he was free, released as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardon of roughly 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, where a mob breached the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Around 140 police officers were injured as a result.

With Trump back in office for a second term, Brackley said he was expecting clemency on his first day back in the White House.

“I follow not just the politician but the man. I was very convinced he was going to pardon us,” Brackley said.

Of the 15 defendants with ties to Maine, Brackley is part of a smaller group convicted of a violent crime.

Federal prosecutors say the 40-year-old from Waldoboro shouted, “Let’s go!” to a crowd in the Capitol and pushed through two officers, leading the group "into the hallway toward the Senate Chamber."

Court documents also report that he asked for the location of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office.

Brackley recalled telling an officer: "Where is Pelosi? We want to fill her in on our thoughts about the election."

After the riot, Brackley returned to Maine and mounted an unsuccessful bid for a state senate seat in 2022.

The next year, he was arrested and ultimately plead guilty to assaulting law enforcement.

“I gravely regret that I pushed past those officers, and on paper, that is assault. And I did do it, and I wish that I hadn’t,” Brackley said.

When asked whether his remorse was for his actions at the Capitol or the legal consequences they caused, Brackley replied: “It’s because of the action itself—and straight up because the action itself was unproductive.”

But Brackley still holds firm to the beliefs that drew him to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally four years ago, including a strong allegiance to Trump and his false claims that he won the 2020 election.

“People protested what was wrong. I believe the election was stolen, and when an election is stolen, it’s not right," Brackley said. "People who steal elections are evil people.”

Brackley also places some blame for the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, on police officers.

“Just because someone puts on a uniform doesn’t make them a good person. It doesn’t mean that every action they do is correct. I believe some law enforcement that day started the violence,” he said.