A man pardoned by Donald Trump for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and threatening to kill then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces new charges for threatening to kill federal judges who presided over his and other cases stemming from the violent anti-government clashes.
Cleveland Meredith, of North Carolina, was arrested Monday for a Facebook post in April that allegedly read: “ALL J6 Federal JUDGES WILL BE EXECUTED!”
Then last month, according to the government, Meredith posted “several threatening and disturbing messages calling for violence after the midterm elections,” including: “Make sure you’re on the right team before the midterm elections/…firing squads will begin on 4/11/26.” »
Another message, mentioned in the complaint, reads: “The midterms will be an absolute MASSACRE. »
Federal prosecutors in Georgia, where the messages were sent from, said in the complaint that the message “expressly threatened execution” and “constituted a real threat under the circumstances.”
“Meredith’s history of violent online rhetoric indicates that he knowingly sent the message on April 23, 2026,” the complaint states, alleging that he did so with “the purpose of issuing a threat, knowing that his message would be considered a threat, or knowingly ignoring a substantial risk that his message would be considered a threat.”
In December 2021, Meredith was sentenced to 28 months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge involving a threat he made to shoot Pelosi.
Prosecutors said Meredith traveled from Colorado to Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, but arrived late due to a car problem, missing the confrontation at the U.S. Capitol.
Days before the riot, Meredith had outlined his strategy for insurrectionary action: “Allow your enemy to boast, to think he has won. Present yourself as weak, disorganized. Then eradicate.” This was followed by another Facebook post that read: “We will surround DC and slowly close in.” »
Then, on January 6, he wrote: “Wartime” and “I’m going to collect a ton of traitor heads.”
The next day, he sent a text message to one of his relatives containing a threat directed at Pelosi. The relative contacted Meredith’s mother, an interior designer whose work has been published in Southern Living magazine, who then contacted the FBI.
Meredith was then followed to a hotel near the Capitol. The FBI found a 9mm semi-automatic firearm, an assault rifle with telescopic sights, approximately 2,500 rounds of ammunition and high-capacity magazines inside his trailer.
On his first day back in office in 2025, Trump pardoned Meredith as part of a massive executive pardon order covering nearly 1,600 people charged or convicted of seditious conspiracy for their participation in the assault.
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Prosecutors said Meredith’s April Facebook post was part of a campaign.
“The defendant has been threatening and harassing individuals and institutions online for at least the past sixteen months,” they said in a motion to keep Meredith detained.
He had been referred to the FBI in July 2025 for making threats against an unnamed person, prosecutors said, and was questioned by the bureau. Meredith “admitted to making them but denied that they were threatening in nature,” according to the government.
Meredith is one of several Trump J6 defendants who received a pardon and has, or is believed to have, reoffended.
Before the Jan. 6 riot, Meredith ran Car Nutz, a car wash business in the Atlanta area. The company sparked controversy in 2018 when it sponsored a billboard linking itself to QAnon.
When asked why he linked his car wash business to the conspiracy theory, Meredith told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “We all support freedom and independent thought. »
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