President-elect Donald Trump has been talking for years about pardoning those who took part in the January 6, 2021, riot, and could issue one on the first day of his second term.
In a March post on his social media network Truth Social, he said: “Free the unjustly imprisoned January 6th hostages!” In 2022, President Trump promised a full pardon and apology, and claimed to be financially supporting those involved in the insurrection. The situation came to a head over the weekend when President Trump again said in an interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker that he may pardon people convicted of crimes related to the insurrection. did.
Such a pardon would be well within the president's authority. And it would be a surprising victory for a collection of groups that have been agitating on their behalf for the past few years. They also could give Trump a political victory, weakening a legal system he has long argued is unjust, while simultaneously rewarding some of his most ardent supporters. .
Who are the rebels? What charges will they face?
Approximately 1,500 participants in the January 6 insurrection have been arrested, charged, or imprisoned, including all types of people.
The defendant on January 6th is not just a hard-boiled leader of an extremist group. Rebellion participants included actors, small business owners, and even self-proclaimed shamans, many of whom expressed belief in conspiracy theories. However, among the participants in the Jan. 6 insurrection were members of a variety of radical anti-government movements, particularly the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, right-wing militia groups that are recognized as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. There were also people who belonged to
Those convicted were convicted of crimes ranging from minor crimes such as trespassing and criminal damage to more serious crimes such as seditious conspiracy.
Why has amnesty for rebels become a cause for the far right?
The push to free the insurrectionists is rooted in false claims spread by President Trump that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The false claims claim that the 2020 election was improper, based on various conspiracy theories. Therefore, the rebels were justified in taking action. Supporters of the insurrectionists also argue that the Justice Department's investigation into Trump shows that he is being used as a weapon against the right, making charges against the insurrectionists unfair and invalid. There is.
Mr. Trump has encouraged this idea, repeatedly claiming that the Justice Department is being used as a weapon against him and his supporters, and similarly following the indictment, saying, “They're coming after you — and I'm going after them.'' You’re just getting in the way.”
As the trials of the insurgents unfolded, several groups began to draw attention to the trials and reframe them as persecution. One of the leaders of these efforts is Mickey Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer during the riot. (The officer was investigated by the Justice Department and cleared of any wrongdoing.) Mr. Wittoft traveled from San Diego to Washington, D.C., to support the defendant on January 6th and hold a vigil in support of the cause.
President Trump supports the theory that the defendants of January 6 are victims, Babbitt is a martyr, and those convicted are “political prisoners.” To be clear, they are in prison not for expressing political beliefs, but for disrupting the political process, committing serious violence, and committing other crimes.
Currently, a group of pro-insurrection groups have come together, including Justice for January 6th (J4J6), American Patriot Relief, J6 Amnesty Project, and stopphate.com, all of which are calling for clemency. Proud Boys leaders are seeking clemency, as are many other groups and individuals associated with the January 6th insurrection participants.
What if Trump pardons the insurrectionists?
A pardon would help legitimize President Trump's two claims. That the Justice Department was weaponized against him and his supporters, and that the 2020 election was “rigged.”
It would also help bring insurrectionists, many of whom are aligned with the far right, fully into the Republican Party.
“The movement behind the amnesty, the desire to have those people pardoned, is a sign of the mainstreaming of the extremist elements that make up the Stop the Steal movement, which is now an integrated part of the mainstream political party. I think you'll see it as part of “in the United States,'' Matthew Criner, managing director of the Accelerationism Research Consortium, told Box.
Participants in the January 6 insurrection have already begun running for office themselves, and those currently in prison may join them if they are released. Groups like Look Ahead America are not only advocating on behalf of the January 6th defendants, but they are also working on political organizing, including voter registration, turnout, and lobbying, all on behalf of the Republican Party. We are active in this area.
Amnesty insurgents may even return to the groups that radicalized them in the first place. Some of these groups, such as the Oath Keepers, have effectively collapsed after their leaders were imprisoned, but right-wing rebel groups are still very active in the United States.
The amnesty means some of the more extreme insurrectionists may see themselves as “given a permission structure to use politically motivated violence,” Criner said. “It's a clean slate for them to come back to and essentially go back to how they were before.”
