Trump’s January 6 Pardons Could Address Some Real Injustices
On his first day in office, President-elect Donald Trump promises, he will pardon at least some of the 1,500 or so people who have been charged with crimes in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He notes that most of those defendants were not violent and that they faced a lot of pressure to plead guilty, as about 1,000 have done so far.
Trump’s most vociferous critics are apt to view any pardons in these cases as an outrageous and self-interested attempt to excuse the behavior of “insurrectionists” who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. But even though Trump himself is largely to blame for the riot, which was inspired by his unfounded insistence that Joe Biden had stolen the election, he raises some valid points about prosecutorial power, which can lead to unjust results that might be remedied by the prudent use of presidential clemency.
As of November 6, the Justice Department reports, about 590 people had been charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement agents or officers or obstructing those officers” during the riot. They included 169 defendants “charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.”
More than 300 defendants had pleaded guilty to felonies, while 661 had pleaded guilty “only to misdemeanors.” Defendants who pleaded not guilty, by contrast, typically have been convicted of felonies.
Prosecutors had a bunch of potential charges to choose from, including misdemeanors such as demonstrating inside the Capitol, “disorderly or disruptive conduct,” and entering or remaining in a restricted building without authorization. The sentences in such cases ranged from probation to short jail terms.
Even defendants who received relatively light sentences may have grounds to complain that the charges they faced were not deployed consistently. According to a recent report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, four FBI informants “entered the Capitol during the riot,” while 13 “entered the restricted area around the Capitol.”
None of those informants has faced prosecution. Although the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office claims that is consistent with its policy of “generally” not charging proteste
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