David Daniel, a North Carolina man pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach, has entered into a federal plea agreement and is set to plead guilty to child‑exploitation charges, according to court records. Prosecutors say in the plea documents that Daniel produced and possessed sexually explicit images of minors in incidents separated by several years.
The pending plea drew wider attention on X after former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo reposted an NBC News story about the case. His post is embedded above.
Plea Papers Lay Out Years-Long Allegations
According to CourtListener, a “Factual Basis” filed April 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina alleges that “from in or about 2015 up to and including November 19, 2016” Daniel enticed a minor under 12 to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce visual depictions. The filing further alleges that between November 2021 and March 2023 he directed a second minor, under 18, to create sexually explicit material.
Investigators later recovered images tied to those allegations on an iPhone 11, an iPhone 14 Pro Max and a hard drive seized during a November 30, 2023 search, according to the filing. The document is submitted as the factual foundation for Daniel’s plea agreement.
Judge Says Trump Pardon Does Not Cover Child Exploitation Charges
U.S. District Judge Matthew Orso has already rejected defense arguments that Trump’s mass pardon for Jan. 6 defendants requires dismissal of the child‑exploitation indictment. He wrote that “child exploitation is not ‘conduct related to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,’” as reported by NBC News. That ruling cleared the path for prosecutors to continue the separate federal case despite the earlier clemency.
Other Pardoned Jan. 6 Defendants Hit With Separate Child-Sex Cases
Daniel’s plea comes amid other prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants who received pardons but later faced unrelated child‑sex cases. The Associated Press reported that Andrew Paul Johnson was convicted in Florida and sentenced to life in prison for child‑sex crimes. In Massachusetts, federal authorities described an “enormous” cache of child‑abuse images when a judge sentenced Daniel Tocci to four years, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported.
How the Pardon Collides With the New Case
Prosecutors say the images at issue in Daniel’s case were uncovered during the broader Jan. 6 investigation but insist the child‑exploitation counts are legally separate from his conduct at the Capitol, a distinction judges have accepted in written orders. A January order adopting a magistrate judge’s recommendation cited the presidential proclamation and concluded the pardon’s “plain language does not apply to the indictment in this case,” according to CourtListener.
The timing of Daniel’s sentencing is still unknown. The plea papers do not set a date, and his attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment, NBC News reported. The case remains on the docket in the Charlotte division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
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