Rioters who attacked the Capitol after Trump's defeat in 2020 toast Trump's return to the White House

Michael Kunzelman
| Associated Press

washington – When it became clear that Donald Trump would return to the White House, the Florida man who took a photo with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium during the Capitol riot exploded a bottle of Trump-branded sparkling wine. “You are all in trouble,” he said, after taking a sip from the video shared on social media.

Rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are celebrating Trump’s victory and hoping he follows through on his campaign promise to pardon them.

Trump did not mention the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he called “hostages” and “patriots” in his victory speech on Wednesday. But his defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris casts doubt on the future of the largest investigation in Justice Department history into an unprecedented attack on a 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 gathering to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 victory into hiding. More than 1,000 defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial to charges including misdemeanor trespassing, assault on police officers, and seditious conspiracy.

Trump’s praise for the Jan. 6 defendants was a centerpiece of his campaign; There were rallies featuring a song he worked on alongside imprisoned rebels, honoring them as heroes. Trump did not say how he would decide who would pardon. But he suggested he would consider granting those rights even to those accused of assault and the former Proud Boys leader who was convicted in 2020 of a violent conspiracy to keep Trump in power.

During his first term as president, Trump used his pardon power in openly political ways, granting leniency to a wide range of political allies — including five convicted defendants in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation — and celebrities in his final days in office. He is the father of Republican members of Congress and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Capitol riot defendant Jacob Lang, who is jailed while awaiting trial in Washington, announced a few hours after Trump’s victory that he and other “political prisoners” of Jan. 6 would “finally come home.”

“When I walk out these doors on Inauguration Day in 75 days, there will be no bitterness in my heart,” Lang wrote.

On January 6, lawyers for some defendants cited Trump’s victory to request a postponement of sentencing their clients.

Defense attorney Marina Medvin said her client, Christopher Carnell, “expects to avoid the criminal prosecution he currently faces when the new administration takes office.” Assistant federal public defender Michelle Peterson argued that it would be “fundamentally unfair” to sentence a client whose case may be dismissed by Trump’s Justice Department.

The justices quickly rejected both requests and on Friday refused to postpone separate hearings for their cases.

Other defense attorneys on Wednesday requested that the Jan. 6 hearing be postponed. They argued that their client, Mitchell Bosch, could not have a fair trial in Washington so soon after the election, given that voters in the nation’s capital overwhelmingly supported Harris over Trump.

“Mr. Bosch understands that the President-elect’s statements about stolen elections and amnesty for patriots are not relevant evidence in the case. But these are highly relevant to the jury pool’s ability to be fair and impartial,” the attorneys wrote.

Trial is scheduled to begin next week for author Steve Baker, who is charged with misdemeanors related to the Capitol riot. Baker, who wrote about the January 6 riot for the conservative publication Blaze News, published a photo of a press document given to him for his appearance in Congress.

“J6, I plan to cover 2025 ‘inside’ the Capitol,” he wrote on Wednesday, adding a winking face emoji.

Of the more than 1,000 convicted rebels sentenced, more than 650 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 misdemeanors. The violence and destruction committed by other members of the gang was documented in videos and other evidence heard in court, including testimony from police officers who described being beaten and fearing for their lives while defending the Capitol.

Trump’s “1st Year” of his presidency. He said he would forgive the Capitol rioters “one day.” He told Time Magazine that he would consider pardoning all the defendants in the Jan. 6 incident, but later added: “If anyone was evil and evil, I would look at it differently.” He told 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 “horribly.”

Pressed during an event in July, Trump said he would “absolutely” pardon rioters accused of attacking police – if they were “innocent.” When the interviewer noted that he was talking about convicted rioters, Trump said they were convicted “by a very harsh system.”

Presidents have unlimited authority to issue mass pardons, said Kim Wehle, a University of Baltimore law professor and author of a book on presidential pardons.

“The amnesty system was established for winners and losers. Who can get these and who can’t is completely subjective. “This is completely arbitrary and based on the whims of the president,” Wehle said. “Donald Trump can issue pardons however he wants and the general public cannot object.”

Presidents have used the authority to issue mass amnesty to promote national unity. George Washington pardoned the Whiskey Rebellion rebels. Abraham Lincoln pardoned former Confederate soldiers after the Civil War. Jimmy Carter pardoned soldiers fleeing the Vietnam War.

Many of those who supported the Jan. 6 defendants also echoed Trump’s campaign talk about seeking retaliation against political enemies. Right-wing political commentator Julie Kelly, who calls herself a “J6 conspiracy theorist” on her social media profile, shared that Washington-based U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves’ “reign of terror will soon be over.”

“Then we turn it around,” Kelly wrote.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed.

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