Trump's blanket Jan. 6 pardons undermine the rule of law
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The prosecution of some protesters who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was obsessive and political. Some pardons of nonviolent offenders were justified and, indeed, were needed to undo the damage their hounding has done to the First Amendment.
However, President Donald Trump went much too far in issuing a blanket pardon to almost every person convicted of offenses committed at the Capitol. His clemency for violent offenders, especially those who attacked law enforcement officers, is shameful, weakens the rule of law, and encourages more violence at political events.
Combined with the shameful pardons issued by former President Joe Biden for his family members just minutes before he ceased to be president, Trump's clemency makes the case for reining in presidential clemency powers.
The events of Jan. 6 were not the "coup" or "insurrection" that Democrats suggest, but they were a riot that caused $2 million in damage to the Capitol and left more than 140 law enforcement officers injured.
Violent crimes were committed. Some people came prepared for mayhem with hockey sticks, wrenches, and baseball bats. Those people deserved prosecution and severe punishment. Vice President J.D. Vance said the violent would be separated from the nonviolent. They weren't.
The Biden Justice Department hounded everyone who was there that lamentable day, but that does not make it right to pardon everyone.
More than 1,500 Trump supporters were eventually charged, most for nonviolent offenses such as trespassing. The Biden administration even creatively used a corporate financial record-keeping law to maximize their jail time. This abuse of prosecutorial power was so flagrant that it was shot down by the Supreme Court. The justices noted how selectively the administration used the law to prosecute only Trump supporters and no one else.
Even with their victory at the Supreme Court, hundreds of Trump supporters were convicted of lesser crimes, such as entering restricted areas protected by the Secret Service, even though the government couldn't prove the defendants knew the area they entered was being protected by the Secret Service.
Such defendants deserved a pardon.
However, real bad actors, such as Daniel Ball, who threw an explosive device at police officers, or Tim Boughner, who stole chemical spray from police officers and used it against them, or David Dempsey, who beat one police officer with a metal crutch, did not.
These men deserve punishment and should not have been pardoned. Security officers had the right and duty to use force to repel those who were trying to break into the Capitol. Pardoning violent rioters is bad. Pardoning rioters who committed violence against police officers trying to restore order is worse.
It was less than two weeks ago that Vance told Fox News, "Look, if you protested peacefully on Jan. 6 and you've had Merrick Garland's Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn't be pardoned."
Vance was right then, and Trump is wrong now.
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Trump was too fucking lazy and/or impatient to sift through all the cases and see who the non violent ones were. He said "fuck it, release them all".
On this we agree completely!
I thought he said they already served long enough.
No.
That was a direct quote.
This should have gone on this article:
If only the DOJ hadn't weaponized the law, we could have all stood together, but as Law Professor Jonathan Turley pointed out long ago this was the problem:
JONATHAN TURLEY: Well, the Department of Justice really made the case for these pardons, and it was hard to do because most of us supported the people responsible for the riot being held accountable, it was a terrible day. But the Justice Department unleashed what one of its top lawyers called a ‘shock and awe’ campaign, and they just scooped up hundreds of people. They often demanded really excessive sentences, in my view. Most of these people were charged with just trespass or unlawful entry. Most of them were not violent. The government tended to oppose bail; they kept a number of them for a very long time in segregation. In some cases, they demanded limitations on what people could say or read or associate after they were released. All of this tended to undermine their case. So, when the president campaigned on this issue, I think a lot of people wanted to see this chapter closed and he certainly did that. I mean, this was broader than most people expected or even asked for.
DOJ's 'excessive' treatment of Jan. 6 rioters 'undermined' the prosecution, Turley says after pardons
Jonathan Turley is a cuckold for Trump. A choirboy in the chorus of "pay no attention to what is in front of our faces." He might even be one of Trump's BFFs, too. Turley's analysis is just another preparation of one of the defense strategies that Trump is using to try and distract the nation from the obvious fact that Trump was ultimately responsible for the insurrection attempt.
Just because he strings words together doesn't truly make them factual as a whole.
Thousands of people were rioting that day and around 2000 or more went inside the Capitol. If protesters were in the Capitol proper, they should have been arrested and charged right then. Any that were on the Capitol grounds and fighting with the LEOs should have been also. But they were not, yet here is Turley crying crocodile tears over the numbers and severity of the sentences handed down.
Also from the same PBS article:
They had no choice? Really? They always had a choice to not believe the lies that Trump told and to not go to Washington, and to not attack and breach the Capitol. There is no question that Trump should be in jail along with the rest of those who tried to unconstitutionally keep him in office, as well as those that were sentenced to jail time, probation and community service, but due to the machinations available to only the wealthy, Trump et.al. are now plotting the further destruction of American values in the White House.
Here is access to the database that NPR compiled.
Do you think any of them were coerced into making pleas?
I would imagine that standard interrogation methods were followed. So, no. Not really. Also, many of them had the misfortune of bragging on social media or being caught on video doing terrible things. And here you are suggesting that they were somehow forced into untruths. They came to Washington because the President told them to.
I agree that the blanket pardon of those who participated in the Jan 6 riot at the capitol, went way too far.
I also question the standard set by President Biden of pardoning people for things that they might be charged with in the future. No one on the left should be the least bit surprised if President Trump does the same for anyone remotely associated with his inner circle and all his family before he leaves office.
Then someone will sue someone and it will quickly escalate to the Supreme Court which will disallow the practice.
You think so?
I don't see any limits in the Constitution on the President's right to pardon. There are several strict Constitutionalists on the Supreme Court. I won't even pretend to know how the Court will rule.
But I do remember Democrats and their media talking head shills screaming Trump was going to grant pardons like Biden did for himself and all of his family members during his first term. It never happened an now now Brandon is guilty of doing the very thing Democrats were screaming about.
I notice bobble head boy Schiff wants Congress to pass a law against against what Brandon did; so Trump cannot do it. Funny- didn't hear him utter a peep out of it when it was common knowledge Brandon was considering pre-emptive pardons.
I also haven't heard a single Republican state they are going to challenge Brandon's pardons; but we all damn well know Democrats will sue Trump if he even thinks about attempting the same. They know any Court ruling won't affect the pardons Brandon has already given.
I just read one of those that Trump pardoned has been rearrested on another charge. Didn’t get the details.
Didn't get the details either but saw that it was a weapons violation charge
Ah here we go Accused Capitol rioter from Citrus County rearrested days after being pardoned by President Trump: Documents | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
This arrest stems from a 2023 arrest on weapons charges, not something he did after he was released on pardon.
He needs to answer for those crimes.
No offense but I don't really care about that, I was just trying to help out Kav
No offense taken, but his post insinuated that the arrest was made because of a crime committed after the pardon.
I'm sure the boys in blue will be extremely interested in any pardoned cop-assaulting "political prisoners" in their own jurisdictions.
I am even more sure they will be even more interested in the Summer of Love not so peaceful protestors that assaulted them who were never charged by Democrat DAs, AGs, and the Brandon DOJ.
Most of those who assaulted police on Jan 6th were either serving time; or had already completed their sentences.
While I don't agree with Trump's blanket pardon. I have no problem with him pardoning those that have already completed their sentences; or who were overcharged by Garland and the DOJ; who used the DC far leftist judges to carry out their edicts.
Thankfully Trump is clearing out the DOJ of these Democrat partisan assholes.
If the powers that were had been content to carefully sort out the acts the violent troublemakers that were on video or witnessed by LE from the vast majority of people who simply wandered through or were escorted by security guards, this whole scale pardon wouldn't have happened.
But no, the left had to make examples of ALL these attendees by overreaching, overcharging, and over sentencing people who were mostly observers, apparently without due process in many cases. I don't agree with pardoning, but considering the disgraceful pardons and clemency given by Biden, especially to his family members, I can understand Trump's mindset.
What do you think they were doing for three years? 1265 charged; 718 guilty pleas, 171 who went to trial and lost based on the evidence collected and presented.
Your imagination defies realty.
I think the idea of preemptive pardons will fail the SCOTUS test,
That being said, Trump's mindset didn't change, he promised full pardons for a year then changed his mind last week days before Biden's preemptive pardons.
They were still overcharged.
Until all of the Summer of Love not so peaceful protestors are held to the same standards under the law; keep your hypocrisy to yourselves.
Invading the Capitol unlawfully with a frenzied mob in an attempt to overturn an election is a little more than a case of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They knew what they were doing and if anything, they got off too easily.
There was never an attempt or intent to overturn the election, and no one can prove otherwise. A protest march turned violent by a handful of those in attendance is the reality of event.
This is just one example of what a perversion of justice that occurred that day.
NO Words: JD Vance Sums Up What the Biden Admin Did to J6 Hostages by Highlighting Just ONE J6 Case – Twitchy
I'm curious...
Did any of those protesters ever say the reason why they were protesting/rioting is because they wanted to overthrow the government?
Can you provide quotes (video would be better) of a couple of them saying this?
Invading the US Capitol is more than just a mere "protest march." It was an attempt to overturn a valid election.
The only perversion of justice is Trump pardoning all those criminals.
Do claims of the election being stolen ring a bell?
I think there's something to be said for the argument that legal though they may be, both Bidens and Trumps mass commutations, pardons etc undermine the rule of law. But the damage they've done are significantly less than the preemptive pardons where Biden handed out immunity for 11 years of crimes, whatever they may be. Pardons and commutations post sentencing are much more justifiable than pardons for crimes that haven't been exposed through a public trial.
The entire J6 committee was given a "presumptive pardon" by Biden indicating something wrong with the proceedings. Given the nature of these pardons, it only makes sense to pardon those who have been charged for actions that day. If the "investigative team" has any implications of wrongdoing, then those charges need to go away.
Now if we are going to look at it as something against the rule of law, then we have to look at the pardons given by every former POTUS. Focusing on one POTUS is hypocritical.
The only thing it indicates is that Biden realizes that Trump is mentally unbalanced.
Your opinion aside, it indicates wrong doing by the committee. And as it's looked into, it becomes more apparent that is exactly what happened.
Just a short four years ago we heard leftists having hissy fits in unison when it was expected for Trump to give preemptive pardons to his family. They all screamed that it was an admission of guilt if he did it.
Of course, because there was no reason to, he didn't.
We hear very little about Biden giving preemptive pardons to his family and the J6 committee on this site.
For the leftists on here, do you believe what many of you believed 4 years ago....that giving a preemptive pardon is an admission of guilt of something?
We both know that they will not hold Geriatric Joe to the same standards. They will claim some nonsense, like in 7.1.
No. His expressed intent was to save them the time and stress of being unfairly persecuted because he knew that The Supreme Douchebag Trump would see to it that they are.
Since the granting of pardons is an official act of the President, they are, per the SCotUS ruling, above and beyond scrutiny by any judicial entity, even the SCotUS, and cannot be contravened by any authority, ever.
But those are mere rules. Trump has never played by the rules, so why would he start now?
What rule of law? Trump has already been literally crowned as King with the Supreme Court decision he can't be prosecuted. His attacks on the Constitution are happening daily. He will never uphold the Constitution because there is no one to make him.