Violent riot starter or misrepresented patriot? Interview w/ James Grant, Wake Co. J6 defendant
Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with a fellow Wake County January 6th defendant and former NC State law student James Grant to discuss his experience on the day, and since. The following information is from Grant's perspective, which should be taken with whatever size grain of salt the reader finds appropriate.
Grant and four codefendants, whom he had never previously met, were singled out by the DOJ for initially rushing the police line at the edge of Capitol Grounds while President Trump was still speaking at the Ellipse over a mile away, marking the opening act of the Capitol Riot.

Although the DOJ threw the book at Grant with nine felonies and two misdemeanors, he was ultimately able to beat five out of the nine felonies, with four not-guilty verdicts by the judge presiding over his bench trial, and a fifth felony (obstruction of an official proceeding) dismissed after a Supreme Court ruling against the government's interpretation of the law.
January 6th: the Why
Grant arrived at the Capitol in 2021 with the fervent belief, which he still holds, of fraud in the 2020 election.
"We want to make our voices heard, we want an audit," as Grant describes the attitude of the crowd. "They stole the election: it's fine, it's going to be revealed. Very frustrating, but we're hoping it's going to be revealed in audit."
However, there were two other major factors playing in to the mindset of the Trump supporters going into 2021: COVID, and the government/media reaction to the BLM rioting during the "Summer of Love".
"Keep in mind, we thought this was it and we had just been locked down for a full year," says Grant. "We weren't allowed to leave our house, but the protests that were burning cities down, that was OK."
The Timing, a Fedsurrection?
While studying the Capitol Riot, one of the "coincidences" that stood out to me was the timing of the initial breach of Capitol Grounds, which occurred within several minutes of the police response to the "pipe bombs" discovered a few blocks away.
Grant had no specific insight into why the incident began precisely when it did, but he is suspicious of why the five defendants in his case were charged early on, while others on either side of him who pushed the same fence where either not charged, or only charged shortly before pardons were expected.
"The initial breach is something that I think should be looked into...just who are these people?" questioned Grant. "How do they how do they not get charged? Look into their history. I think that'll tell everything."
Pretrial Incarceration
Although Grant was initially granted pretrial release while his charges were pending, this was revoked in January 2022 after he was arrested for a DWI and was found to be in possession of a firearm.
Grant's explanation is that he was on his way to Cabela's to sell his rifle to "raise money for a lawyer that would actually answer my phone calls," and that he had been taking Adderall as a "study aid".
Grant says he believes he was being followed by the FBI, and that the "suicide threat" the Garner Police were allegedly responding to was a pretext.
Over the course of the next nearly three years leading up to his trial and sentencing, Grant spent around one year each in three detention facilities: North Neck Regional Jail, FCI Lewisburg, and the DC "Gulag".
Grant describes the "worst day of his life" in jail when his lawyer, who he says never answered his 50+ phone calls, video called him to share the government's offered plea deal of 7-9 years in prison: "it was like a nightmare."
The effects of spending years in a "high anxiety environment" still have an effect on Grant, "you're always awaiting violence. After years of that, you're going to get PTSD, it's going to wear on you. You're always looking at who's going to assault you."
Guilty, and Not Guilty
After a pleading guilty to the two misdemeanors he was charged with, (Entering and Remaining in Certain Rooms in the Capitol Building; and Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building), Grant went to trial on the nine felonies he was facing.
Grant's charges were much more serious than merely "pushing a fence," which he admits was "a stupid incident," including two charges of "assault with a deadly or dangerous weapon" against two police officers, Carolyn Edwards and David Cruz.
In both cases, the "deadly or dangerous weapon" was the metal barricade the group of Trump supporters was pushing against. However, the charges differed in that Edwards was knocked to the ground and suffered a serious head injury, while Cruz was not. In addition, Cruz was directly in from of Grant, while Edwards was down the fence line.
The video evidence shows Grant was attempting to pull another rioter off of Cruz when another officer "sucker punched" him in the head. "I was probably concussed because I was knocked unconscious," said Grant.
In a split verdict by Judge Jia Cobb, Grant was found guilty of assault on Cruz, and not guilty of assault on Edwards:
GUILTY - Civil Disorder
GUILTY - Assaulting Officer D.C. (Deadly/Dangerous Weapon)
GUILTY - Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building or Grounds
GUILTY - Act of Physical Violence at the Capitol Building or Grounds
NOT GUILTY - Assaulting Officer C.E. (Inflicting Bodily Injury or Deadly/Dangerous Weapon)
NOT GUILTY - Entering or Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon
NOT GUILTY - Disorderly or Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon
NOT GUILTY - Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon
DISMISSED (SCOTUS ruling) - Obstruction of an Official Proceeding
In it's sentencing memorandum, the government requested 108 months of incarceration, but the judge ended up sentencing Grant to 36 months, allowing him to be released shortly after the judgment was issued last September.
Defamation?
Grant is currently seeking to bring a lawsuit against "fake news" for distorting the facts of his case, such as using an image captioned "...James Grant battles police outside the Capitol..." with an angle appearing to show him wrestling with a police officer, when he was actually pulling a rioter back from attacking the police:
James Grant can be found on Twitter/X, @JamesGrantJ6; his media lawsuit fundraiser can be found on GiveSendGo
Full interview & transcript:
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