A notorious Jan. 6 defendant tests Trump’s pardon promise

As millions of Americans greet the start of Trump’s second presidency with fear or even panic, a group of people are filled with hope that their lives will be transformed for the better. Many of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol four years ago and are still serving time for their crimes believe that Donald Trump will release them to freedom. After all, what kind of country would this be if you can end up in prison for nothing more than trying to overthrow the government?

That hope for release is undoubtedly felt by most, if not all, of the more than 1,500 insurrectionists who have been charged with crimes related to the events of January 6, 2021, of whom more than 1,250 have declared themselves guilty or have been convicted. in the trial. And perhaps no one is making a bigger deal of Trump’s pardon than Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, who helped plan and coordinate the insurrection.

There is little reason to believe that Trump thinks anyone involved in the insurrection did anything wrong.

In 2023, Tarrio received the longest sentence of all participants, 22 years in prison. His lawyer formally requested Trump’s pardon on Monday, writing that Tarrio is “a proud American who believes in true conservative values” and “a young man with an aspiring future ahead of him.”

Trump has said many times that he intends to pardon the insurrectionists; What we don’t know yet is how far it will go. Will he only pardon those accused of non-violent crimes? Or will he grant a general pardon to all of them, as some of his followers demand?

Not even all Republicans are willing to go that far. But a blanket pardon would be the logical conclusion to Trump’s four-year attempt to rewrite the history of that horrible day. His strategy in this regard was as simple as it was effective. He simply said, over and over again, that the insurrection was not a crime or a coup but something just and gallant. It was “a day of love,” and the violent thugs who carried it out were patriots and heroes, those now imprisoned for their crimes were actually “political prisoners.” During the campaign, Trump proclaimed that one of his first acts, if he won, would be to free the January 6 “hostages.” Their demonstrations began with a recording of imprisoned insurrectionists singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Through this replay, he made it clear to all Republican officials and media figures that they, too, were expected to repeat the fantasy version of that day, which many obediently did.

Soon, the republican masses believed it; After all, it was what the public figures they admired and trusted told them. Even if not everyone believed the most unhinged versions of the right-wing version: that the hit was staged by the FBI, a conspiracy theory sometimes promoted by Tucker Carlson and Kash Patel, Trump’s choice to now lead that same agency. – at least they concluded that there was nothing to worry about. According to a recent CBS News poll, 72% of Republicans now say they would approve of Trump pardoning the insurrectionists.

According to the Department of Justice, 13 leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been charged with seditious conspiracy over the coup attempt. Another 379 have been charged with serious assault. The rest (more than 1,000) have been charged with crimes that amounted to being part of the riot, acts such as trespassing and civil disorder.

There is precedent in Trump’s record for a blanket pardon.

Trump could decide to pardon only those convicted of nonviolent crimes. But that would not provide the exoneration – not just of them, but of Trump himself – that he has actually claimed. If Trump leaves out violent criminals in his pardons, it would mean acknowledging that there was, in fact, an extraordinary amount of violence. A general pardon, on the other hand, would solidify the narrative as he would prefer: the election was stolen from him, then his supporters protested, then they were persecuted for exercising their constitutional rights, and in the end, he freed them.

So will he forgive Tarrio and, along with him, Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in orchestrating the insurrection? Will he do the same for Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez, who was sentenced to 12 years for assaulting police officers with a fire extinguisher and a wooden pole and sticking a stun gun into the neck of a Capitol Police officer? What about Peter Schwartz, who attacked officers with a chair and pepper spray? Or Thomas Webster, who wielded a flagpole in the attack and ripped a gas mask from an officer’s face?

There is little reason to believe that Trump thinks someone involved in the insurrection did something wrong and should suffer consequences; They were there serving their cause, so they must be beyond reproach. And there is precedent in Trump’s record for a blanket pardon: Upon leaving office four years ago, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of a bunch of thugs who had committed crimes in his name or on behalf of others.

Most important of all, blanket pardons would be the culmination of Trump’s attempt to turn the insurrection from a failure to a success. In fact, it could already be considered that way. Trump and his acolytes tried to overturn an election by various criminal means and in the end they got what they wanted, although it took them four years. Trump will now return triumphant to the White House. The only thing left is to erase the consequences for those who tried to put him there through violence.



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