There were the blanket Select Committee pardons and the family pardons, both of which were terrible exercises of judgment that open the door, as if the door needed opening, to cries of “Biden did it first” from the unduly simplistic. And wrongs they were, even if the rationalization was that Trump was going to exact retribution on all the people who were mean to him and kicked sand in his face.
But then came Trump’s turn, and turn it was.
Acting pursuant to the grant of authority in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States, I do hereby:
(a) commute the sentences of the following individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, to time served as of January 20, 2025:
• Stewart Rhodes
• Kelly Meggs
• Kenneth Harrelson
• Thomas Caldwell
• Jessica Watkins
• Roberto Minuta
• Edward Vallejo
• David Moerschel
• Joseph Hackett
• Ethan Nordean
• Joseph Biggs
• Zachary Rehl
• Dominic Pezzola
• Jeremy Bertino(b) grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021;
At her confirmation hearing, Attorney-General nominee Pam Bondi told senators that she would, obviously, review each case individually before recommending any defendant for a pardon. Looks like Trump isn’t very interested in what Bondi thinks. And after Bondi asserted that her Department of Justice would be independent from the White House, Trump tossed in the kicker directing the DoJ to dismiss with prejudice all pending cases, reducing Bondi to just another hatchet gal.
It would have been one thing for someone on Trump’s behalf, since he can’t be bothered to read, to parse the convictions and pick out any that could be deemed questionable or sentence that seemed excessive. But that didn’t happen, and to pander to a small cohort of extremists suffering from psychotic delusions, and contrary to the far larger mass of voters who suffered Trump as the least worst alternative, Trump did what few approve of or find tolerable. He pardoned the cop beaters. He pardoned the VP hanging hopefuls. He either pardoned them or commuted them all, no matter how neo-Nazi, dangerous, violent, psychotic or white supremacist they were. Some, if not all, were vicious criminals, and now they are pardoned.
Most important, the mass pardon sends a message to the country and the world that violating the law in support of Mr. Trump and his movement will be rewarded, especially when considered alongside his previous pardons of his advisers. It loudly proclaims, from the nation’s highest office, that the rioters did nothing wrong, that violence is a perfectly legitimate form of political expression and that no price need be paid by those who seek to disrupt a sacred constitutional transfer of power.
The snarky description is commit crimes and acts of violence for Trump and you get a walk. And the message will, no doubt, translate that future crimes for Trump will receive the same treatment. Trump loves them and they love Trump. If he says burn, they will burn. If he says kill, they will kill. And Trump will save them, as he did before.
For those Trump voters who hope he would be better, be bigger, than this puny vulgar, deceitful, narcissistic ignoramus, and who don’t suffer from TDS such that they remember what happened on January 6th, this act suggests their hope was in vain. This is the worst Trump, the lowest Trump. Or, as we like to call him, Trump.
For those who cling to the radical left wing fringe and share with the J6 “hostages” the belief that they must achieve their fantasies “by any means possible,” Trump has given them hope that they, too, can burn and kill for the cause, enjoying the impunity of a pardon when AOC takes office. That is if Trump doesn’t send the Proud Boys to fix the AOC problem in the meantime.
Yes, there is a problem with the pardon power, used in ways too cynical for the founders to consider. But that’s what the Constitution provides, and fixing the Constitution isn’t as simple as declaring a new amendment to be effective or proclaiming an old amendment to say something other than what it says.
It’s possible that the courts will game this out, crafting limits that appear nowhere in the Constitution or curbing excesses that are so mind-numbingly wrong that it’s inconceivable that they would have originally been allowed had they anticipated a president so venal in his abuse of the power, but it will take years for that to happen. In the meantime, all manner of harm can come from the self-proclaimed Patriots killing and maiming under the orders of Trump.
*Tuesday Talk rules apply.
I cannot decide which I consider worse:-
1/ Pardon power as used by Presidents Biden and Trump;
OR
2/ the complete nonexistence of a pardon power.
Typical for you. Nod at Biden protecting his crimes by pardoning his blood accomplices, then spend all your column space whining about Trump. 4 years without trial deserves a pardon. You’re such a hack.
Which of those people were imprisoned for 4 years without a trial?
Edward Lang.
WASHINGTON DC – Exactly three years later, January 6 defendant Edward (Jacob) Lang is still awaiting a trial for over a dozen charges related to his involvement in the assault on the Capitol building in 2021. After multiple pushbacks, his trial date is set for September 9.
This date would set his time awaiting a trial at 3 years and nine months.
Some people see Jan 6th as an insurrection.
Some people see it as a riot.
That difference mostly determines the rest…
I’m still awaiting to see the so-called crimes save for Hunter. MAGAts would believe the sky was green if Trump told them so. What you seem to neglect is that Biden felt compelled to protect those explicitly called out by Trump and his Justice/FBI nominee to investigate and attempt to prosecute. That’s a more damning and accurate view. Biden correctly perceived dangers and excesses the Trump admin would take. The adage “If a person tells you what they are…believe them”. I would have definitely preferred that Biden not execute those pardons and let the Dear Leader show how dangerous to the rule of law he actually is.
<>
What crimes? I don’t recall seeing indictments for or even proof of any.
I did see Trump promising “retribution,” however.
A dumb move by Joe nonetheless, of course. Or, to put it more eloquently, these pardons “were terrible exercises of judgment that open the door, as if the door needed opening, to cries of ‘Biden did it first’ from the unduly simplistic.”
Twofer Tuesday.
Biden blew it. In addition to the pardons he issued (which are troubling, but one can understand the desire to protect people from the likes of Trump/ Bondi/ Patel), Biden should have pardoned Hillary Clinton for Epstein’s murder, Bill Clinton and Trump for any/ all criminal acts committed against underage girls at Eptein’s townhouse, his private island, and the “Lotlita Express”, as well as knowingly transmitting STDs to their wives and other women.
These pardons would have garnered attention immediately/ distracted from the other pardons, then quickly vanished as Fox and the various RWNJ outlets would avoid calling attention to the First Felon’s serial adultery/ sexual indiscretions. Similarly, MSNBC/ CNN/ MSM would have quickly moved on rather than further tarnish the reputations of the sainted Clintons.
Unfortunately, this would place a burden on the Secret Service as they’d have to station an agent inside the president’s bedroom to keep Melania from going Lorena Bobbitt on him, but you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
Of greater concern is that Biden overlooked LTC VIndman, so he’ll likely be targeted by DOJ.
So no one thought that this might happen, once the White House started ruling by decree?
We are at a strange point in history where politics is dominated by extremists on both the right and the left, who agree on little other than that they alone should forever hold power, the ends always justify the means, and that stopping to consider whether abusing power now will lead to the other side doing the same later is capitulation. And whatever adults were once in the room, whom we might have expected to try to reign in the excesses of their respective camps, have, like Elvis, left the building.
I would have preferred to see a section c that said something like “Except for Ray Epps and any other individuals acting on behalf of the FBI.”
Is this sarcasm or have you refused to accept the reality that the Epps/FBI thing was a completely batshit crazy false conspiracy theory for the absolute stupidest people alive?
The Justice Department has admitted that there were 17 FBI informants involved in the riot. You could make a case that it’s stupid to believe anything that the government says. Their admission is what lawyers call a “declaration against interest,” if I’m not mistaken, so I’m inclined to believe them.
You don’t have to worry, though, as Trump’s pardon includes them, thus kneecapping any investigation.
Don’t confuse informants with undercover FBI agents or anyone “acting on behalf of the FBI.” Informants provide info, hence the name. That has nothing to do with what happened on J6. Just because some MAGAs will rat their way out of trouble (shocking!!!) doesn’t make this an FBI setup.
While there were news about convicting Ray Epps, his name isn’t searchable in the directory of J6 cases on the DOJ site, no results. I even assumed he had a different name and searched by other criteria. In vain. Weird, isn’t it?
Oh my! Trump pardoned cop beaters! And nary a peep about the cop killers pardoned in Biden’s flurry of down to the wire pardons.
On the one hand, “tu quoque” is the last refuge of morons. On the other hand, maybe it’s because Biden’s commutation (not pardon) came when the guy was 80, in very poor health and had already spent 50 years in prison, and still it was harshly criticized.
You’re talking about Leonard Peltier, whose commutation was opposed by the FBI Director. I’m talking about Ferrone Claiborne and Terence Richardson who murdered Sussex County Va Officer Allen Gibson.
Peltier I understand to a degree, not Claiborne and Richardson. Their commutation was even opposed by the US Attorney as they were violent offenders.
Various pundits/ talking heads, “Biden’s issuing pardons recklessly. Wholesale pardons set an alarming precedent!”.
Trump, “Hold my beer and watch this!”.
On another note, has anyone noticed that Trump’s claiming a “mandate” closely coincides with Musk moving to Mar-a-Lago? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
As a former prosecutor, I am shocked, shocked that this post makes no mention of the Blackstone Ratio. It is better that ten guilty men go free than for one innocent man to be convicted.
It is more comforting to know that Trump made his intentions known during the campaign and the electorate still chose him. Perhaps the voters appreciate Mr. Blackstone’s wisdom more than some members of the criminal defense bar.
“Yes, there is a problem with the pardon power, used in ways too cynical for the founders to consider.” – Author
This is absurd. The American founders were British traitors until victorious. They had a immense distrust of government. “what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? let them take arms. the remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. what signify a few lives lost in a century or two? the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it’s natural manure.” – Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration of Independence
Most of the comments here are deeply disturbing. SHG, you should give some serious thought to the sort of people who are leaving these comments at SJ. Why do they feel empowered to spew such idiocy here? It’s concerning.
[Ed. Note: I am concerned. Very concerned.]
I have my opinions about both sets of pardons but am following what Proverbs 17:28 has to say.
“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”
Maybe, as a starting point, a line could be drawn at schoolyard name calling? Although, its presence is valuable when doing a quick surface triage of which comments are even worth reading.
[Ed. Note: If you don’t want a comment to be called stupid, don’t leave a stupid comment.]
One of the problems is that this is a law blog, and there are still a great many lawyers who read here. Yet there are a number of non-lawyers who feel compelled to comment and make factually false or irrational statements.
One of the reasons SJ became so popular is that Scott wouldn’t tolerate the stupid and in the past ripped it a new asshole. Lately, he’s decided to leave it to the readers to police ourselves and call out the stupid. But the stupid has to be addressed, as the stupid crowds out the lawyers. And there is a lot of stupid going on here these days. Of course, if you prefer to read factually false or irrational comments because they align with your politics and you prefer to wallow in ignorance or irrationality, that’s up to you. And there’s always reddit.
I enjoyed it when Scott ripped me a new one.
But then I am somewhat strange.
Make that two of us.
I got thoroughly trashed by Scott and some other commenters here a couple of years ago for being an entitled and stupid asshole. It actually made me rethink some things and got me out of my bubble.
Fully endorse more beatings.
I’ve tried to stay out of the fray of late, but today has given me pause to end TT. Most of the comments today are insanely stupid idiocy, and I will not have my blog become a hotbed of MAGA delusions and lies. Yes, it gets called names because that’s what it is.
“I will not have my blog become a hotbed of MAGA delusions and lies.”
That’s what the Reason comment sections are for.
Not being a lawyer and all, but didn’t ex-President Biden’s blanket pardons of the select committee members and his family members pretty much imply that they were guilty and in need of pardons?
Isn’t one of the conditions of receiving a pardon that you publicly admit to the crime for which you’re being pardoned?
[Ed. Note: No.]
Bondi: People who attack cops should not be pardoned.
Vance: Of course he won’t pardon people who were violent or attack cops.
Trump: PARDONED! THEY’RE ALL PARDONED!!!
Do you people realize how ridiculous you sound?
I have a challenge here: What’s one thing that Trump did in office that no other president of either party has done worse? Not what he said, not what he tweeted, not who he had dinner with, not some bullshit scheme of his that got immediately blocked and never happened.
Kids in cages? FDR actually did put a whole ethnicity in concentration camps. Plus, both Obama and Biden did the same thing, as has every modern president.
Encouraging election denial and political violence? After 2016 Russia Collusion, you’re gonna look at me with a straight face and tell me that election denial makes him an outlier? After 2020, in which the vice presidential candidate (and current presidential candidate) stumped for rioters, looters and arsonists? Collected bail money for them? We’re supposed to say that Trump’s election denial and encouragement of protests that turned violent is some sort of special case?
It is no defense of Trump to notice that he is bad in the exact same ways all our leadership is bad. He just does it in a big cartoon way and the fury of the response is completely unconnected to the underlying badness. The terrible thing about Trump is just how normal his behavior is for our political class.
He stole classified documents! Yeah, Biden kept his under a used car in the garage.
His kids profited from his political position! Hunter’s long resume of crack cocaine, dick pics and knocking up strippers apparently suited him to the board of a Ukrainian oil company, where apparently the Bidens have business and political interests going back some decades and there’s a bit of a war on.
He said he’d prosecute his political opponents! And is currently facing seventy-odd felony charges, none of which seem to hold up in court yet.
Anyone wants to say Trump is bad, I’m cool with that. He is bad. He’s a selfish, amoral fame-grubbing cretin, most of his policies are bad, and I can’t stand to listen to him talk. But that has gone for every president in my lifetime. It’s nothing new. It’s called a “politician”.
The refusal to re-examine the hysteria around this man is a political liability at this stage of the game. You hang on to that crazy if you want.
4 years was plenty of time to review the J6 cases. Have you ever looked at those cases yourself? I can’t provide a link but they all are on the DOJ website (“Capitol Breach Cases”). Aren’t we supposed to judge based on actual cases, not hateful speculations about horrible white supremacists who deserve jail for their white supremacing? Literarily Nazis pardoned by literarily Hitler.
I’ve read quite a few of those cases awhile ago. A typical J6 case is based on a “witness” statement like “I see that this person posted on social media that they’d been at the Capitol”. Then they’re charged with 4 crimes one of which is a felony under a novel legal theory (overturned by SCOTUS in Fischer in 2024). Then they plead guilty for one count, so, instead of years in jail they get, say, 60 days. For presumed trespassing. Jacob Chansley’s “witness” saw him on TV (weird that they wouldn’t use actual video from the Capitol). The trick is to declare a police officer present at the event a witness against people and things he never witnessed there… There are cases of violence against police on the site but they’re few and far between. If someone were to decide who to pardon, they should’ve just kept those (while removing any frivolous charges) and pardon everybody else. But the entire prosecution was such a gross perversion of justice, I wouldn’t complain about a blanket overturn. Which I would prefer to pardoning that sends a wrong message.
Wow. It looks like you got every wackjob around commenting today. The crazy here is insufferable. My condolences.
This was a protest that got out of hand and turned into a riot. Given the unprecedented weaponization of the Justice Department against ordinary American citizens, most of whom did nothing wrong, the jailing of grandmothers who only took photos in the Capitol after being invited in by police, the over-charging of minor offenses, the years of pre-trial abuse in jail for minor offenders, and the unreasonably extreme sentences given to those who did commit wrongdoing, what Trump did is totally unremarkable. If he had failed to repudiate this attack on patriotic Americans exercising their right to protest in the strongest possible terms, by pardoning all of its victims, that would have been a scandal.
I’m more surprised at the reaction from the GOP congresscritters. Imagine being so cucked that you can’t bring yourself to criticize a man who just pardoned people who literally tried to kill you and have shown zero remorse over it.
[Amazingly, this isn’t the craziest comment of the day]
A sincere question: Why did some have their sentences commuted while others were pardoned? What is the practical difference?
Please. The only other president to lead an effort to overturn the government was Jefferson Davis.
The police injuries were “few and far between”? Well. One cop dead by stroke, several by suicide, and about 150 injured. But I guess “few” is a relative term.
“Anyone wants to say Trump is bad, I’m cool with that. He is bad. He’s a selfish, amoral fame-grubbing cretin, most of his policies are bad, and I can’t stand to listen to him talk.”
Me too. Just in the last 48 hours: trying to kill renewable energy, trying to eliminate birthright citizenship, withdrawing from the WHO, withdrawing from the climate change treaty (putting us in the company only of Iran, Libya, and Yemen), trying to cripple health care benefits, and so much more. He is a cretin indeed. I hope you didn’t vote for him.