Klete Keller Receives Pardon for January 6 Conviction: ‘I Really Regret the Actions I Took’
More than four years after three-time Olympian Klete Keller was arrested for his role in the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, he has received a pardon from newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump. Keller was among a group of more than 1500 nonviolent defendants to receive a full pardon, restoring full civil rights.
In response to the pardon, Keller spoke to the Washington Post and expressed his appreciation for the President’s decision to grant him relief. “It didn’t feel real. And waking up this morning, I was like: ‘My gosh. Wow, this is over. I don’t have to check in with my probation officer anymore,” Keller told the Post. “It’s just such an amazing feeling of relief.”
During his sentencing, Keller apologized for his actions, and he echoed those words in his interview Tuesday. “I really regret the actions I took that day. I love this country,” he said, per the Post. “I’m just so grateful that I have the opportunity now to move forward.”
The article noted that Keller voted for Trump in the recent Presidential election but was not counting on receiving a pardon. “I had come to peace with being a convicted felon the rest of my life,” he said.
Keller had previously been sentenced to six months of home detention plus three years probation for his actions in 2021, with judge Richard Leon forgoing the 10-month prison sentence recommended by prosecutors. Keller had been responsible for completing 360 hours of community service, but that requirement has now been vacated with the pardon.
Keller raced for the United States at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, securing individual bronze medals in the 400 freestyle at the first two of those Games. He also won two gold medals and a silver in the 800 free relay. In a memorable anchor leg at the 2004 Athens Games, Keller held off Australia’s Ian Thorpe, then the world-record holder in the 200 free, for gold by 13-hundredths.
Read more from the Washington Post here.
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