WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – Donald Trump has promised pardons for people who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
And now that the president-elect is months away from returning to the White House, those defendants hope he keeps his word.
“We believe that these people are entitled to pardons because of the weaponization of the Justice Department,” said Edward Tarpley Jr. who represents Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers.
Rhodes helped plan the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. Last year, he was convicted of seditious conspiracy, the most severe charge brought by the Justice Department, and is currently serving an 18 year-prison sentence.
Tarpley said, “Stewart Rhodes never entered the Capitol. Stewart Rhodes never engaged in any violence. Stewart Rhodes never broke any property or committed any property damage. He was prosecuted for the things he said and the things that he believed.”
The DOJ has pursued charges against nearly 1500 people from every state. About half have pleaded guilty while others await trial.
Last summer, Trump was asked by ABC’s Rachel Scott at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Chicago if he would pardon those people.
Trump responded, “Oh, absolutely. I would.”
Scott replied, “You would pardon those (people)?”
Trump said, “If they’re innocent, I would pardon them.”
Scott stated, “They’ve been convicted.”
Trump took exception by saying, “Well, they were convicted by a very, a very tough system.”
Trump has also said he would pardon so-called “fake electors” who allegedly tried to change the results of the 2020 presidential election to keep him in power.
Noah Bookbinder, President at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said pardoning rioters and fake electors would send the wrong message.
“That it’s okay to disregard the will of the people, to disregard an election, to put somebody in power who wasn’t elected by the people. And I think that’s extremely dangerous going forward,” said Bookbinder.
CNN and CBS News polls show most Americans oppose pardons for these defendants. And American University constitutional law professor Stephen Wermiel said the law has been properly applied in these cases.
“To now kind of put your thumb on the scale and say, ‘Well, this was all wrong in the first place and these were just, you know, harmless people who wanted to sightsee at the Capitol on January 6th’ is kind of shocking to our notion of rule of law,” said Wermiel.
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