PEN ARGYL, Pa. — Criminal charges against former NASCAR driver Tighe Scott were dismissed Tuesday following President Donald Trump's order to drop all charges against people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault of the U.S. Capitol Building.
In one of his first actions upon returning to the Oval Office Monday, Trump signed an executive order pardoning more than 1,000 people — including four Lehigh Valley residents — convicted of crimes tied to the attack on the Capitol Building.
The measure met a campaign promise Trump made last year, saying his political rivals had weaponized the U.S. Justice Department to punish him and his supporters.
The same order instructed acting Attorney General James McHenry to dismiss all criminal charges in ongoing cases tied to the assault.
The decision closed the largest criminal investigation in American history.
Scott, of Pen Argyl, declined to comment Tuesday.
He participated in NASCAR races from 1976 to 1982, with his best showing coming in a 13th place finish in the 1978 Winston Cup.
A Republican, he briefly ran for an open seat on the Pen Argyl Area School Board last year but dropped out before the primary.
'Ends grave national injustice'
Federal prosecutors alleged Scott, his son Jarrett Scott and their friends Scott Slater and Scott Slater Jr. assaulted police officers on the Northwest Terrace of the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
The officers were trying to keep the mob from breaching the building as Congress certified the 2020 presidential election results inside.
Body camera footage showed the four men confronting police, hurling insults and hitting their riot shields, authorities said.
The Slaters and Jarrett Scott wielded golf clubs, according to investigators. Tighe Scott tried to rip a shield out of an officer's hands but was knocked backward, according to prosecutors.
Charges against Jarrett Scott and the Slaters, all of Saylorsburg, also were dropped.
The order "ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people and begins a process of national reconciliation."President Trump in his executive order
In the order, Trump said his decision "ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people and begins a process of national reconciliation."
That take clashed with the findings of the Jan. 6 Commission created by the 117th Congress.
The bipartisan group found Trump knew he lost the 2020 election but intentionally lied to his supporters as he tried to cling to power.
After rallying his supporters at a Stop the Steal rally, he directed the mob to march on the Capitol Building. The mob assaulted police, forced their way into the building and delayed Congress from certifying the election.
Trump was charged in 2023 with trying to overturn the 2020 election results, but Special Prosecutor Jack Smith dismissed the case without prejudice following Trump's victory in the 2024 election.
The Justice Department has a policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents.
Five L.V. residents charged
An NPR database tracking defendants charged for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol identified five Lehigh Valley residents among the 1,575 people charged in the investigation.
- Craig Bingert — The 33-year-old Slatington man was the only Lehigh Valley resident sentenced to federal prison for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Authorities said he attended Trump's Stop the Steal rally before heading to the Capitol Building, where he climbed up scaffolding along the Capitol Building's West Terrace. There, Bingert and others assaulted U.S. Capitol Police trying to maintain a perimeter by shoving a bicycle rack against them, according to federal prosecutors. One officer was injured. The Bureau of Prisons says Bingert is in a medium security correctional institute in Mississippi.
- Samuel Fontanez-Rodriguez — The Emmaus man called the FBI National Threat Operations Center weeks after the riot, saying he wished to clear his name. Fontanez-Rodriguez told authorities he was inside the Capitol Building during the riot for about 15 minutes. Security footage from inside the U.S. Capitol Building appeared to show Fontanez-Rodriguez entering the Capitol Building through a broken window. Fontanez-Rodriguez served a year of probation.
- Jackson Kostolsky — The Allentown man traveled to Washington with Fontanez-Rodriguez. He told investigators that he briefly entered the Capitol Building before being forced out by police; security footage confirmed he was inside the building for about 10 seconds. He was sentenced to 30 days of home confinement and three years of probation.
- Kelly O'Brien — The North Whitehall Township woman shared photos and videos on Facebook as she and the mob approached the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, including one post saying, "someone may have trashed a certain speaker of the houses office, but I'll never say who." Security footage spotted her inside the Capitol Building, prosecutors said. She subsequently scrubbed her social media accounts of the assault, but not before several people notified the FBI. In January 2022, she was sentenced to 90 days in federal prison and a year of probation after pleading guilty.
- Tighe Scott — Scott was due for trial in March on felony charges of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; he also faced five related misdemeanors. Investigators said body camera footage showed Scott, his adult son and others engaging with law enforcement on the Capitol Building's Northwest Terrace. Scott attempted to wrestle a riot shield out of an officer's hand but was pushed back, according to court documents. The charges against Scott were dismissed Tuesday.
