As it became clear that Donald Trump was returning to the White House, the Florida man who posed for photos with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern during the Capitol riot pulled out a bottle of Trump-branded sparkling wine. “You’re in trouble,” he said after taking a sip in a video shared on social media.

The rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 are celebrating Trump’s victory and hoping he will follow through on his promise to pardon them on the campaign trail.

Trump did not mention the Jan. 6 accusers, whom he called “hostages” and “patriots,” during his victory speech on Wednesday. But the defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris calls into question the future of the largest prosecution in the history of the Justice Department over the unprecedented attack on a seat of American democracy.

More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes in the riot that left more than 100 police officers injured and sent lawmakers into hiding as they met to certify Joe Biden’s victory in 2020. Over 1,000 defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial of charges including misdemeanor battery, assault on police officers and seditious conspiracy.

Trump’s praise of the defendants on Jan. 6 has been a centerpiece of his campaign, with rallies honoring them as heroes with a song he collaborated on with a prison riot group. Trump has not explained how he will decide who will be pardoned. But he suggested he would consider granting them even for those accused of assault, as well as the former Proud Boys leader convicted of orchestrating a violent plot in 2020 to keep Trump in power.

During his first term as president, Trump wielded his pardon power in overtly political ways, granting clemency in his final days to a wide range of political allies — including five defendants convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe — as well as celebrities. Republican members of Congress and Jared Kushner’s father, his son-in-law.

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Jacob Lang, an accused Capitol rioter who has been jailed awaiting trial in Washington, posted hours after Trump’s victory that he and other “political prisoners” from Jan. 6 were “finally coming home.”

“There will be no bitterness in my heart when I walk out these doors 75 days from now on Inauguration Day,” Lang wrote.

Attorneys for some defendants since Jan. 6 cited Trump’s victory in requests to delay their clients’ sentencing.

Defense attorney Marina Medvin said her client, Christopher Carnell, “expects to be relieved of the prosecution he currently faces when the new administration takes office.” Michelle Peterson, an assistant federal public defender, argued that it would be “fundamentally unfair” to convict a client whose case could be dismissed by Trump’s Justice Department.

The judges quickly rejected both requests and refused to postpone separate hearings for their respective cases on Friday.

Other defense attorneys asked Wednesday that the defendant’s Jan. 6 trial be postponed. They argued that their client, Mitchell Bosch, cannot receive a fair trial in Washington so soon after the election, given that voters in the nation’s capital overwhelmingly backed Harris over Trump.

“Mr. Bosch understands that the president-elect’s proclamations regarding stolen elections and patriot pardons are not relevant evidence in his trial. However, they are highly relevant to the jury’s ability to be fair and impartial,” the lawyers wrote.

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A trial is scheduled to begin next week for Steve Baker, a writer charged with crimes related to the Capitol riots. Baker, who has written about the Jan. 6 riot for the conservative Blaze News, posted a photo of a press credential for him to cover Congress.

“I plan to cover J6, 2025 ‘inside’ the Capitol,” he wrote Wednesday, adding a winking emoji.

Of the more than 1,000 convicted rioters who were convicted, more than 650 received prison terms ranging from a few days to 22 years. Hundreds of people who entered the Capitol, but did not attack the police or damage the building, were charged only with misdemeanors. Violence and destruction by other mob members was documented in videos and other evidence heard in court, including testimony from police officers that they were beaten and scared for their lives while defending the Capitol.

Trump said he would grant pardons to the Capitol rioters on “Day 1” of his presidency. He told Time Magazine that he would consider pardoning all the accused from January 6, although he later added: “If someone was evil and evil, I would look at it differently.” Last year, he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would consider pardoning former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy. Trump said Tarrio was treated “horribly.”

When pressed during an event in July, Trump said he would “absolutely” pardon rioters accused of attacking police — if they were “innocent.” When the interviewer noted that he was talking about convicted rioters, Trump responded that they were convicted “by a very tough system.”

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Kim Wehle, a University of Baltimore law professor and author of a book on presidential pardons, said presidents have unlimited power to grant mass pardons.

“The pardon system is set up for winners and losers. Who gets them and who doesn’t is completely subjective. It’s completely arbitrary and based on the whims of the president,” Wehle said. “Donald Trump could shape the pardon however he wants to shape the pardon, and the general public wouldn’t be able to challenge it.”

Presidents have used their power to grant mass pardons for the sake of promoting national unity. George Washington pardoned the Whiskey Rebellion. Abraham Lincoln pardoned former Confederate soldiers after the Civil War. Jimmy Carter Pardons Vietnam War Dodgers.

Many of those who expressed support for the defendants on Jan. 6 also echoed talk from the Trump campaign of seeking retribution against political enemies. Julie Kelly, a right-wing political commentator who calls herself a “J6 conspiracy theorist” on her social media profile, posted that US Attorney Matthew Graves’ “reign of terror” in Washington will soon end.

“Then we turn things around,” Kelly wrote.