On January 6th, 2021, Pam Hemphill followed the Proud Boys to the Capitol, got trampled by the mob, was carried out by a police officer named Joe, and recorded every minute of it. The internet called her the MAGA Granny. She did 60 days in federal prison. And then, slowly, she woke up.

When Trump issued sweeping pardons for more than 1,500 January 6th defendants, Pam did something almost no one else did. She said no. She filed a formal letter of rejection, returned to the Capitol to apologize to officers in person, received death threats, lost a 12-year relationship, and kept talking anyway.

In a series about people who got pardons they didn’t deserve, Pam Hemphill is the one who deserved consideration and walked away from it anyway.

You’ve heard about January 6th. You think you know the story. You don’t know it like this.

Quick Links

• FBI Affidavit (Case 1:21-cr-00555-RCL): Read the original charging document https://jan6attack.com/DoJ/hemphill-pamela/1469486.pdf

• Pam Hemphill’s Wikipedia Page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Hemphill

• Pam’s January 6th Testimony (PBS, January 6, 2026): Watch on PBS NewsHour

• Trump’s Truth Social Post (via HuffPost): Read the coverage

• Pam’s Pardon Rejection (NPR): Listen and read on NPR

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