The criminal cases of those accused of attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, continued more or less normally on Friday, the last business day before President-elect Donald J. Trump returns to the White House.
Throughout his campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly vowed to issue pardons on his first day back in office to many, perhaps even most, of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on his behalf. But it remains less clear what he intends to do with the sprawling investigation of Jan. 6 — the largest single criminal inquiry the Justice Department has undertaken in its 155-year history.
After he is sworn in on Monday, Mr. Trump could order the Justice Department to simply stop pursuing any cases related to Jan. 6. But even with the change in administrations less than three days away, there was no sign at the federal courthouse in Washington, where all of the Jan. 6 proceedings have been heard, that federal prosecutors were pulling back or slowing down.
In one courtroom, Kellye SoRelle, the former lawyer for the Oath Keepers militia, was sentenced to a year in prison on charges of advising other members of the far-right group to delete their text messages after taking part in the Capitol attack.
Ms. SoRelle, who was once romantically linked to Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers, pleaded guilty in August to charges that included tampering with evidence and illegally entering a restricted area of the Capitol grounds.
In another courtroom, a jury trial continued for Jared L. Wise, a former F.B.I. agent charged with felony civil disorder and assault. Prosecutors say that Mr. Wise, who left the bureau in 2017 after stints in New York and Israel, confronted officers at the Capitol, calling them Nazis and encouraging a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters to kill them.
Five additional defendants were also sentenced — including one to 10 days in prison on charges of disorderly conduct and another to 37 months on assault charges.
Altogether, nearly 1,600 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack over the past four years. Two weeks ago, department officials said prosecutors were still weighing whether to bring charges against as many as 200 more people, including about 60 suspected of assaulting or impeding police officers during the riot.
As recently as Thursday, prosecutors unsealed charges against a new defendant, James Edward Porter, of Hot Springs, Ark. Mr. Porter was accused of grabbing a baton from an officer outside the Capitol and shoving another one.
Charging documents in his case revealed that the F.B.I. received its first tip about Mr. Porter on Jan. 15, 2021 — more than four years ago.
