The moves are an abrupt shift for the Justice Department, which had previously argued that the “plain language” of Trump’s pardons covered only crimes that occurred on the actual day of Jan. 6 and in proximity to the Capitol
DOJ: “Our position is very reasonable, the January 6th prosecutions were a political witch hunt and we’re just trying to undo the damage from them. It’s not like we’re handing a get out of jail free cars to people for any crimes they ever did just because they showed up for our boss on that day.”
Trump administration: “[glares silently].”
DOJ: “… Our position is very reasonable, the President can hand out get out of jail free cards to whoever he wants and anyone who suggests otherwise hates America.”
Wait. Trump didn’t even have to name the people he was pardoning? So a future President could pardon all Republican Party members, their families, and close associates?
Correct. He listed 14 people, and then:
grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021;
Yes, the president has broad and basically unchallengeable pardon powers, and could do exactly that. The check against it is supposed to be Congress being willing to impeach and remove.
For future crimes!
I think Trump* did name the people he was pardoning, he just didn’t name what he was pardoning them for
*And by “Trump” I of course mean whatever flying monkey lawyer he got to do all the research and writing for him, because the man himself is a dumb and lazy bastard
Nope. He specifically listed 14 people, but then just broadly pardoned the remaining people.
grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021;
Rumor has it that he got frustrated with going through whatever determination process they were doing and said “fuck it. Release them all”
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/22/trump-pardons-jan6-clemency
