WASHINGTON — When it became clear that Donald Trump was returning to the White House, the Florida man who posed for photos with then-House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern during the Capitol riot threw a bottle of Trump brand sparkling wine. “You’re all in trouble,” he said after taking a drink in a video shared on social media.
Rioters storming the Capitol January 6, 2021are celebrating Trump’s victory and hoping he makes good on his campaign promise to pardon them.
Trump made no mention of the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he called “hostages” and “patriots” during his victory speech on Wednesday. But his defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris casts doubt on the future of the largest prosecution in Justice Department history over the unprecedented attack on a country. seat of American democracy.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot that injured more than 100 police officers and sent lawmakers into hiding as they gathered to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. More than 1,000 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial on charges including misdemeanor assault, assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy.
Trump’s praise for the January 6 defendants has been the centerpiece of his campaign, with rallies honoring them as heroes with a song he worked with a group of captured rioters. Trump has not explained how he will decide who will be pardoned. But he has suggested he might even consider awarding them to those accused of assault and to the former Proud Boys leader convicted of orchestrating a violent plot in 2020 to keep Trump in power.
During his first term as president, Trump used his pardon power in overtly political ways, granting clemency to a wide range of political allies in his final days in office — including five defendants convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. celebrities, Republican members of Congress and Jared Kushner’s father, his son-in-law.
Jacob Longa Capitol riot defendant jailed awaiting trial in Washington posted within hours of Trump’s victory that he and other Jan. 6 “political prisoners” were “finally coming home.”
“There will be no bitterness in my heart when I walk out these doors on Inauguration Day 75 days from now,” Lang wrote.
Lawyers for some of the Jan. 6 defendants cited Trump’s victory in requests to delay their clients’ sentencing.
Lawyer Marina Medvin said to her client: Christopher Carnell“expects to be relieved of the criminal charges he currently faces when the new administration takes office.” Michelle Peterson, an assistant federal defender, argued that it would be “fundamentally unfair” to convict a customer whose case may be dismissed by Trump’s Justice Department.
Judges quickly denied both requests and refused Friday to postpone separate hearings for their respective cases.
Other lawyers on Wednesday asked for a postponement of a suspect’s January 6 trial. They argued that their client, Mitchell Boschcannot get a fair trial in Washington so soon after the election, as voters in the nation’s capital overwhelmingly supported Harris over Trump.
“Mr. Bosch understands that the president-elect’s proclamations about stolen elections and pardons for patriots are not relevant evidence in his trial. However, they are highly relevant to the jury’s ability to be fair and impartial.” the lawyers wrote.
A trial will start next week Steve Bakera writer charged with crimes in connection with the Capitol riot. Baker, who has written articles about the Jan. 6 riot for the conservative newspaper Blaze News, posted a photo of a press credential for him to cover Congress.
“I plan to cover J6, 2025 ‘inside’ the Capitol,” he wrote on Wednesday, adding a wink emoji.
Of the more than 1,000 convicted rioters sentenced, more than 650 have received prison sentences ranging from a few days to 22 years. Hundreds of people who entered the Capitol but did not attack police or damage the building were charged only with felonies. The violence and destruction by other members of the mob have been documented in videos and other evidence heard in court, including testimony from police officers that they were beaten and that they were in fear for their lives while defending the Capitol.
Trump has said he will pardon the Capitol rioters on “Day 1” of his presidency. He told it Time magazine he would consider pardoning all of the January 6 defendants, but later added: “If someone was bad and bad, I would look at it differently.” He told it NBC’s “Meet the Press” last year that he would consider pardoning former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy. Trump said Tarrio was treated “terribly.”
When pressed at an event in July, Trump said he would “absolutely” pardon rioters accused of attacking police — if they were “innocent.” When the interviewer noted that she was talking about convicted rioters, Trump responded that they had been convicted “by a very strict system.”
Kim Wehla law professor at the University of Baltimore and author of a book on presidential pardons, said presidents have the unlimited power to issue mass pardons.
“The pardon system is set up for winners and losers. Who gets them and who doesn’t is completely subjective. It is completely arbitrary and based on the whims of the president,” Wehle said. “Donald Trump could shape the pardon the way he wants to shape the pardon, and the general public wouldn’t be able to challenge it.”
Presidents have used their power to issue mass pardons to promote national unity. George Washington pardoned Whiskey Rebellion rebels. Abraham Lincoln pardoned former Confederate soldiers after the Civil War. Jimmy Carter pardoned draft dodgers in the Vietnam War.
Many of those who voiced support for the Jan. 6 defendants also echoed Trump’s campaign talk of seeking retaliation against political enemies. Julie Kelly, a right-wing political commentator who calls herself a “J6 conspiracy theorist” on her social media profile, posted that Washington-based U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves’ “reign of terror will soon end.”
“Then we turn the tables,” Kelly wrote.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed.