CNN
—
President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to pardon the Capitol rioters on day one, but a month before Inauguration Day, hundreds of convicted rioters and defendants awaiting trial will be pardoned. , it is not clear which of the remaining fugitives will receive amnesty.
Trump’s advisers are still finalizing their approach to January 6, 2021, several people involved in the transition told CNN. And defense attorneys are desperately trying to uncover the truth and convince the next administration that their clients deserve it.
In an interview with Time magazine conducted last month and published Thursday, the president-elect said he would consider each riot incident individually. “If they were nonviolent, I think they would have been punished greatly,” he said. “I’m going to check to see if anything really got out of control.”
He also said the pardons would “start in the first hour of my inauguration.”
President Trump’s frequent and ambiguous statements remain unclear.
“The statements change every day. They’re all nonviolent these days. But no one knows what that means,” a defense attorney in several riot cases said this week.
The Jan. 6 pardon will not be granted through the traditional application process used for pardons by sitting presidents, according to people familiar with Trump’s plans.
Several lawyers representing Capitol rioters told CNN that at least one Trump transition staffer told CNN that the Jan. 6 pardon is a high-profile move that Trump is prioritizing, and that the president has been making it a priority since his inauguration. He said he was reassured that it would be carried out soon.
A person familiar with President Trump’s legal strategy told CNN that the incoming administration doesn’t want to “let people rot in jail while they figure out whether they should be pardoned.”
Damage to the Capitol was in the millions, with more than 140 police officers assaulted by rioters, rioters breaking windows to gain access to the building, and rioters stealing property. In the days following the riot, five police officers were killed, several committed suicide, and four people in the crowd were killed.
Some judges in Washington, D.C., have also publicly criticized President Trump’s attempts to whitewash the cause of the riot and the violence.
Judge Royce Lamberth, who was appointed by President Reagan and is the most senior judge in federal court in Washington, D.C., said, “Regardless of the final outcome of the Capitol riot lawsuits that have already been concluded and are still pending, on January 6, 2021, The true story of what happened on that day will never change.” The district court said at last week’s sentencing hearing.
Lamberth spoke about his experience marching with Martin Luther King Jr. decades ago, adding that the rioters were not peaceful protesters, nor were they hostages or political prisoners.
“They have chosen to trespass on restricted grounds, destroy public property, assault law enforcement officers, and seek to subvert the will of an electoral majority. Such actions violate the First Amendment. “It’s light years away from the protections of the Articles,” the judge said. “All rioters are in that situation because they broke the law, and for no other reason.”
More than 1,500 Capitol rioters have been charged in federal court for their actions, and all but about 300 have been convicted or pleaded guilty nearly four years after the Capitol attack. According to the Justice Department, about half of the convicted rioters, 645, were sentenced to prison, but many have served their sentences.
The Justice Department is still working to arrest scores of people who were videotaped and photographed during the riot.
In an interview with NBC News over the weekend, President Trump said he could make an exception to his promise of a pardon “if someone is radical or crazy.”
“Those people have suffered a lot and a long time, and there may be some exceptions to that. We’ll have to see,” Trump said.
One of the big questions is which of the Capitol riot defendants will be eligible for President Trump’s pardon, and what constitutes violent or nonviolent acts. Some sources say the varying degrees of violence among the roughly 200 rioters convicted of assault are more complex than looking solely at the criminal charges secured by prosecutors.
Joseph McBride, a lawyer for several of the January 6 defendants who has advocated for blanket pardons, said President Trump’s recent statements about granting pardons on a “case-by-case” basis were not unreasonable.
Still, “can we be sure that members of the Jan. 6 community will be, or already are, disappointed to hear this news? Absolutely,” McBride told CNN.
Trump’s campaign has criticized President Joe Biden’s long-running campaign against his son Hunter, even though two recent polls show the public disagrees that the Jan. 6 defendant should be released. He believes the pardon gives political leeway to grant broad amnesty to the rioters.
President Trump’s press secretary did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Another question is how the pardons will be secured, especially how the rioters and their lawyers will file applications seeking any of the Jan. 6 grants from President Trump, or The question is whether to submit it or not.
A defense attorney said Thursday that he was concerned that President Trump’s recent comments focused on rioters who are currently in prison and not those who have completed their sentences.
One of the options being considered is to issue blanket pardons to individuals charged with certain crimes, exonerating them from more heinous crimes, one of the people said.
A defense attorney representing dozens of January 6 defendants said he has been inundated with calls from clients who are excited about the election results and want answers about possible pardons. The lack of any announcement regarding procedures after the transition to President Trump’s administration has increased confusion and anxiety for some defendants.
“I told them to wait for more information because it’s still being figured out,” the source said.
Trump outlines plans for Ukraine, deportations, vaccines, amnesty, food prices, deregulation and more in interview with Time Magazine ” person=”” of=”” the=”” year=”” feature.=”” />” class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image__dam-img–loading’)’ onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1080″ width=”1920″/>
President Trump reveals opening topic in TIME interview
Judges in the District Court of Washington, D.C., have been reluctant to change future sentences for the Capitol rioters, as hopes for sweeping pardons have grown. However, exams scheduled for this winter before the inauguration were postponed.
One of the judges, Carl Nichols, who was appointed by President Trump, made the sharp comments during a hearing for Capitol riot defendants two weeks after this year’s election.
“While I would be beyond frustrated and disappointed to see a blanket pardon for all, or even close to, the January 6 defendants, that is not my call,” Nichols said in court.
“Right now, there’s a tornado and a hurricane outside this building. His name is Donald Trump,” rioter Jacob Joseph Lang told Nichols in court.
Defense attorneys also question what punishment will be meted out to those who incited or led rioters but did not commit violence themselves.
The group’s central figures: leaders of the far-right groups Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who were convicted in the Justice Department’s landmark seditious conspiracy case.
Lawyers for some of the most high-profile nonviolent defendants, including Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, both separately convicted of seditious conspiracy, each He has been sentenced to about 20 years in prison, but is hoping for a pardon from President Trump. Because they personally do not commit any physical violence.
Tarrio, a former president of the Proud Boys, was not in Washington, D.C., on January 6, but nonetheless encouraged his followers to commit violence in the months leading up to the riot.
In a statement after the presidential election, Tarrio’s lawyer Naib Hassan suggested his client might apply for a pardon.
“We would like to acknowledge and commend the recent election results, particularly the election of Donald Trump. , we look forward to seeing what the future holds,” the statement reads.
Tarrio has not yet formally requested a pardon from Trump or his advisers, but another convicted Proud Boy, Joseph Biggs, has written to Trump asking for a pardon.
Mr. Rose was convicted of taking advantage of that day’s violence to bring weapons into Washington, D.C., and spearheading a widespread conspiracy to prevent the certification of electoral votes. But Mr. Rose was not charged with scuffling with police or breaking into the Capitol, a point his lawyers relied on during his trial last year.
“I think Mr. Stewart is someone who really deserves to be forgiven, but I wouldn’t say that about everyone involved in these cases,” Rose’s attorney, James Lee Bright, told CNN. He added that “visually the worst thing the man did was take a picture” and that the scene was “just jeers and laughter”.
But Bright said he is keeping his expectations low about the pardon and is advising other clients accused of violence not to get their hopes up.
“If he’s a man of his word, I think he should do it with the swipe of a pen,” Bright said of President Trump. “He’s a politician now, but I inherently don’t trust politicians.”
CNN’s Marshall Cohen, Kurt Devine and Casey Gannon contributed to this report.
