Jan. 6 fugitive from Indiana expects pardon from Trump
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — For more than five months, Antony Vo has been on the run, a fugitive wanted on a federal warrant.
The Indiana man hopes that will change Jan. 20, 2025, after President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office for his second term in the White House.
News 8’s Tim Spears spoke to Vo via Zoom after Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, but would not reveal his location. Vo made it clear he’s staying on the run, expecting President-Elect Donald Trump to deliver a pardon.
“Yeah, I do,” Vo said. “I have no reason to doubt that President Trump is a man of his word, and he will make extreme efforts to pardon all of us.”
His ‘us’ is every person criminally charged as a result of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Vo was a student at IU Bloomington when he joined the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C. that turned into the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
A federal judge ordered Vo to serve 9 months in prison after he was convicted on charges from the riot.
Vo refused to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on June 14, 2024, leading authorities to issue a new warrant for his arrest.
Vo admits he and his mother, Annie Vo, were in the Capitol that day, but claims he never personally witnessed any violence, and he thought police were letting demonstrators into the building.
“I really thought that the police were keeping their oaths to the constitution and were stepping aside to let us exercise our constitutionally guaranteed rights,” Vo said. “I thought it was totally permitted.”
Prosecutors have also filed charges against Annie Vo. Her case is still pending.
Vo believes Trump should — and will — grant pardons to everyone charged in the Jan. 6 riot, even those who may have participated in violence.
“I think at a fundamental level, like at a foundational level, the whole January 6 thing is just so politicized and corrupted,” Vo said. “I think that we’re entirely misrepresented. We’re basically entrapped and treated like very differently than any other protesters.”
Vo told News 8’s Tim Spears that he believes a government conspiracy caused the chaos during the certification of the 2020 presidential vote.
He’s also called for members of the Jan. 6 Committee to be imprisoned, and said the actions of U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presided over his case and others, amount to treason.
“The people that participated in (Jan. 6) by and large, were for the democratic process of just ensuring the election was right, and the people who basically prevented us from doing so are, in my opinion, the ones that are wanting to impede the democratic process,” Vo told Spears.
Vo says he has applied for refugee status in another country but would not say which. He says he hopes to have a future in politics, applying to both the Trump transition team and newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).