Jan. 6 riot fugitive seeking asylum in Canada, awaits Trump pardon

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An Indiana man who should be nearing the end of a nine-month federal prison sentence for his part in the Jan. 6 riots in Washington D.C. is instead waiting in Canada for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to pardon those involved with the 2021 insurrection.

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In the meantime, 32-year-old Antony Vo, who fears “torture and inhumane treatment by the USA government” should he return there, is seeking asylum in Canada for at least “a couple more months,” per the documents he filed to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) and shared to his X account in early December.

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This week, however, Vo told Indiana’s WISH-TV that he’s holding off on the requested meeting with Canadian officials until he can be assured they won’t detain and deport him to serve his time at a federal facility in Indiana.

Back in the U.S., sources told CBS in August that authorities were actively looking for Vo and suspected he may be in Canada.

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The National Post has contacted the IRB for comment.

Who is Antony Vo and what did he do on Jan. 6?

The Bloomington man’s parents and sisters fled Vietnam in 1991, arriving in the U.S. where he was born the following year.

“My mom and sisters all testify that everything, all the harm, that the US government has done to me is way worse than what they ever had to deal with in communist Vietnam because it is so much more dishonest and unfair,” he wrote in supplemental documents to IRB.

He also said his late father, who was a former Army of the Republic of Vietnam officer and spent 10 years in a re-education camp, wasn’t treated as bad as “J6 hostages.”

On Jan. 6, 2021, Vo was attending Indiana University, where he studied neuroscience with a minor in entrepreneurship and small business management, when he went to D.C. and joined the “Stop the Steal” rally, alongside his mother, Annie Vo, who was in her late 60s at the time.

As he’s done since his arrest and during court proceedings, he asserts in his asylum claim that the event was a peaceful one that became “subverted as part of a domestic regime-change operation to politically assassinate (Donald) Trump and his supporters.”

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Vo said he didn’t witness any violence during his time in the U.S. Capitol building and that what was shown on TV was not what most attendees experienced.

He also maintains that police officers were letting people in.

“I really thought that the police were keeping their oaths to the Constitution and were stepping aside to let us exercise our constitutionally guaranteed rights,” Vo told WISH in November. “I thought it was totally permitted.”

‘Kangaroo court’

Vo was identified as part of the FBI’s U.S. Capitol Violence task force investigation and arrested in July 2021.

Court documents filed at the time show he’d told one person on Facebook that he and his mother “helped stop the vote count for a bit.” In another conversation, he wrote, “President (Trump) asked me to be here tomorrow so I am with my mom LOL.”

In a private message with another X user, Vo wrote that police “stood down and retreated after we clearly outnumbered them.”

In two different exchanges on Instagram, Vo admitted that he and his mother “stormed” the Capitol.

A plea deal fell apart in March 2022, according to LawandCrime.com, when he refused to say if he knew he wasn’t permitted in the building.

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He was eventually convicted in September 2023 and found guilty of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, violent entry or disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

At the sentencing hearing in April, as reported from the courtroom by CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane, Vo’s defence lawyer, Carmen Hernandez, challenged the inclusion of the social media statements.

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U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan — a Barack Obama appointee and the judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against Trump — had bigger concerns regarding Vo, specifically as it pertained to him breaching the conditions of his release by attending a “freedom corner” gathering outside the jail where others accused of more serious Jan. 6 crimes are being housed.

Hernandez, newly appointed to Vo per LawandCrime.com, argued it was a “prayer vigil.”

“Are you serious,” MacFarlane reported Chutkan asking incredulously.

Vo addressed the court at the hearing, apologizing and stating that he didn’t attend the rally with the intent of overthrowing “any democratic process.”

Chutkan said it was clear Vo, who refers to himself as a “J6 wrongful convict, fugitive/Convention Refugee” on his social media channels, continues to show no remorse and has “doubled down” on his behaviour.

“I don’t believe Mr. Vo thinks the law applies to him,” she said, also admonishing him for continuing to refer to the pretrial detainees as “hostages.”

After the trial and in his asylum applications, Vo has repeatedly said his case was heard in a “corrupt kangaroo court… in a show trial with zero jury of peers and a biased judge, prosecution, and neutered defense.”

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“I tried to plead guilty but could not because they were forcing me to plead guilty to elements that were not true, namely that I willingly and knowingly commited (sic) the political crimes they accused me of.”

Why Canada?

Canada doesn’t appear to have been Vo’s first choice for avoiding jail time.

His application points out that he also tried to get into Argentina and Mexico, but never heard back from their respective embassies. He also looked at El Salvador, Belarus, Russia and his ancestral home in Vietnam.

“I seriously explored getting paramotoring lessons and then paramotoring from Key West to Cuba to seek asylum there too,” he said, referring to the motor-powered paragliding vehicle.

Regardless, Vo told the IRB he’s felt welcome in Canada, twice remarking on its “well-storied and well-deserved history as a bastion of freedom.”

In his view, granting him asylum helps Canada maintain that reputation and avoid violating international refugee law.

“Especially when it might complicate matters with the incoming Trump administration when I hope to rather be used as a symbol of Canadian goodwill,” he stated.

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Once back in the States, Vo told WISH he hopes to get more involved in politics and has already applied to work for the Trump transition team and the Department of Government Efficiency, a new branch of government led by Elon Musk.

He’s confident the pardon will come, citing Trump’s promise to do so on Day 1 of his presidency.

“On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump will take office and pardon me no doubt.”

What about Annie Vo?

Vo’s mother, who he said is now 70, was arrested in March and faces the same charges.

The FBI, he said in his application documents to Canada, gave her the “shock and awe treatment” upon her arrest.

“Shackled her in three points: wrists, waist, and feet, for hours,” he submitted.

Her case has yet to be heard, but an assistant district attorney on the case recently withdrew and Vo identified her on X.

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It’s not immediately clear if his mother is also seeking asylum in Canada at this time.

— With additional reporting from the Associated Press

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