WASHINGTON– WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed the remnants of the government’s landmark case against far-right Proud Boys members who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to attack the Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in the White House more than five years ago.

The dismissal of the case Friday night became a foregone conclusion when Trump last year used his pardon powers to expunge all cases the government prosecuted after a mob of his supporters stormed the building on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge presiding over the trial of Proud Boys leaders saw no basis for preserving the convictions after Trump’s sweeping clemency act last year.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump nominated during his first term, said there is “little mystery” about why the second Trump administration decided to drop this case and all other Jan. 6 riot cases.

“President Trump’s views on the prosecution of those who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, whether those views are based on fact or fiction, are well known, as is his intention to grant them clemency,” Kelly wrote.

The judge stressed that his order should not be confused with an endorsement of the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case. He called the Capitol riot “a dangerous event” and an assault on the constitutional imperative of a peaceful transfer of power between presidents.

“Going forward, if this nation’s experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people, regardless of their partisan preferences, will have to act together to preserve, protect, and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,” Kelly wrote.

Jurors in the nation’s capital separately convicted leaders of the Proud Boys and another extremist group, the anti-government Oath Keepers, of orchestrating violent plots to keep Trump, a Republican, in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Another judge has not yet ruled on the Justice Department’s related request to dismiss the Oath Keepers’ seditious conspiracy convictions.

Friday’s ruling applied to four of the five Proud Boys members who were convicted after a jury trial: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. Trump commuted their prison sentences, but they were not covered by the president’s mass pardons.

Former Proud Boys national president Enrique Tarrio was convicted in the same trial but received a pardon from Trump. Kelly had sentenced Tarrio to 22 years, the longest prison term in any Capitol riot case.