Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Jake Lang Arrested in Minneapolis on Suspicion of Rioting

Jake Lang, a far-right influencer and Jan. 6 rioter who received a presidential pardon, was arrested in Minneapolis on Saturday on suspicion of rioting outside City Hall, according to the Minneapolis Police Department and Mayor Jacob Frey.

Police said Lang and several other people arrived near City Hall in two vehicles just before noon. The vehicles drove up onto the sidewalk toward a crowd, and officers who responded tried to get them to leave the area. Instead, the vehicles fled and were later tracked down and stopped, police said. All seven occupants were taken into custody.

Social media footage posted during the confrontation appeared to show Lang standing in the truck bed of one vehicle holding a sign with a racial slur. Other footage showed Lang and other activists clashing with counterprotesters outside City Hall.

Lang was booked into the Hennepin County Jail and is being held without bail, according to jail records. Police have not released the names of the other six people arrested.

The arrest is the latest legal trouble for Lang in Minnesota. He already faces a felony destruction of property charge for allegedly destroying an anti-ICE sculpture outside the state Capitol earlier this year. That case is separate from the federal Capitol attack matter for which he received clemency, and the rioting case would move through Minnesota state courts.

The confrontation is likely to heighten scrutiny of the far-right organizing scene in Minneapolis, where immigration enforcement has become a growing flashpoint. It also underscores that the pardon granted to Jan. 6 defendants does not cover later state-level conduct, leaving people like Lang exposed to new criminal liability.