Public January 6 profile · ready to claim

Michael Gerard Fournier

Pardoned January 6 defendant

Archive card · not a photograph

Michael Gerard Fournier of Portland, Maine may be the only January 6 defendant whose own prosecutors admitted he might have SAVED a piece of the Capitol's art collection. That's not spin. That's the government's file. FACT: As WUSA9 reported it, Michael Fournier was seen carrying a painting inside the Capitol — one he took from another rioter — and prosecutors acknowledged he may have prevented its theft. The headline wrote itself: "He may have saved a painting at the Capitol on Jan. 6." FACT: He never hid his presence. Through his attorney, Fournier admitted he was at the Capitol as far back as December 2021 — more than two years before the government got around to arresting him in January 2024. FACT: He was charged with misdemeanors and pleaded guilty on May 1, 2024 to two of them — disorderly conduct and parading. No assault charges. No destruction. FACT: On August 2, 2024, he was sentenced to 30 days and $1,000 restitution. He faced it and moved on. FACT: On January 20, 2025, Michael Fournier received a full pardon under the presidential clemency proclamation. A Portland, Maine man who owned up early, whose worst documented act may have been protecting a painting, and who walked away with misdemeanors and a full pardon. That is the record on Michael Gerard Fournier. CASE RECORD U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Arrested January 2024. Guilty plea May 1, 2024 (two misdemeanors). Sentenced August 2, 2024 to 30 days. Pardoned January 20, 2025. This profile is unclaimed. If this is you — or your family — claiming it is free, forever.