HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – It’s been four years since more than 1600 people stormed the United States capitol to stop what President Trump falsely claimed was a rigged election on January 6th, 2021. Some rioters assaulted police officers and damaged federal property. Now President Trump has pardoned all January 6th defendants both violent and non-violent. At least 48 people in North Carolina faced felony charges. “These were people who acted in good faith. Under the very real belief that they were doing a patriotic thing at the specific request of our then and now current president,” Attorney Albert Watkins said. St. Louis Attorney Al Watkins represents several January 6th defendants including Bradley Bennett from Huntersville, NC. FBI documents show Bennett was inside the capitol in the crowds wearing a tan hat. In a Facebook post after the insurrection, he said “despite a few ‘weirdos’ everyone was orderly.” Watkins says the pardons will return rights to his clients, but that much of the damage is already done. “Most of those who have been charged have either been found guilty by a jury or entered into a plea of guilty and been sentenced and done their time and paid the restitution and you can’t undo the conviction,” Watkins said. Republican Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina criticized the president’s J6 pardons. “Well, it’s like I said, I think that it raises, I think, a legitimate safety question here on Capitol Hill,” Senator Tillis said in a CNN interview. Attorney Watkins says the pardons set the tone for the next four years. “That message is loud and clear. If you’re on Trump’s side, doesn’t really matter what you did,” Watkins said. The FBI had compiled a website of all capitol violence suspects and open cases, but it was taken down Monday. House Republicans have created a new committee to investigate what they say were security breaches on January 6th, 2021.