Jan. 6 Defendants Request Pardons Ahead of Trump’s Return to Office
President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have made various statements regarding the potential pardoning of defendants from January 6.
With Trump’s inauguration scheduled for January 20, he will acquire all presidential powers as specified in the U.S. Constitution.
The ability to grant pardons has sparked significant debate recently, particularly as Trump assumes office amidst numerous prosecutions stemming from the January 6, 2021 events.
A jury found Coffee guilty on multiple charges, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a weapon. In an interview with The Epoch Times, he asserted that the verdicts were unjust and criticized the trial processes.
“All these trials and convictions sprung from a poisonous tree,” said Coffee.
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Commemorating the fourth anniversary of the “Stop the Steal” rally and the related protest at the U.S. Capitol, Attorney General Merrick Garland highlighted his department’s prosecutions.
“The public servants within the Justice Department have worked diligently to hold accountable those who are criminally responsible for the January 6 attack on our democracy with steadfast integrity,” he stated.
“They have adhered to the rule of law while honoring our commitment to safeguard the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in the nation.”
Trump has indicated plans to pardon at least some convicted individuals, and given his comments on the prosecutions, it’s probable that some cases will be dismissed once he takes office.
In a December inquiry from Time magazine about whether he would pardon all defendants, Trump responded, “I’m going to evaluate each case individually, and if they were non-violent, I think they’ve faced excessive punishment. The answer is yes, I will look into it. There may be a few who reacted excessively.”
He added that a “vast majority should not be imprisoned, and they have endured greatly.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, “approximately 608” individuals have faced charges for “assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement personnel or obstructing… officers during a civil disorder.”
The statute underpinning that particular charge was addressed in a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In a split 2–1 ruling, the court stated that the DOJ could enforce the trespassing law without needing to prove the defendant knew that former Vice President Mike Pence’s presence on Capitol grounds warranted restricting access to that area. However, a dissent from Judge Gregory Katsas, appointed by Trump, argued that he would have vacated the contested conviction.
Subsequent to the Fischer v. United States case, the DOJ stated that each person charged under Section 1512 also faced additional charges and would continue to have potential criminal exposure even if that charge were dismissed.
Of around 259 individuals charged under that section, about 126 still had pending cases in D.C. District Court when the Supreme Court’s ruling on Fischer was announced on January 6, 2025, according to the DOJ.
The DOJ opted not to pursue charges against approximately 119 of those defendants and did not contest vacating or dismissing the charges in roughly 65 of the cases concluded by the time Fischer was decided.
