Trump risks 'significant blowback' with decision on pardons for Jan. 6 rioters
Donald Trump has pledged to pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, but he faces "significant blowback" no matter how he chooses to approach the matter.
The president-elect's loyalists expect him to grant maximum clemency to even the most violent rioters, but a solid majority of voters oppose that and some of Trump's GOP allies have urged him not to pardon anyone who assaulted police at the U.S. Capitol, reported CNN.
“He’s got a tough decision to make,” said Jeffrey Crouch, an expert on presidential pardons who teaches at American University. “Does he do nothing, allow the court cases to proceed, and risk angering his base? Or does he abuse the pardon power to grant clemency to insurrectionists?”
Micki Witthoeft, the mother of slain rioter Ashli Babbitt, is a leader in a national movement of MAGA activists pushing for the release of Jan. 6 defendants, and Trump risks angering some of his most vocal supporters if he decides to let some of them remain behind bars.
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“Unless the president pardons everybody, he is going to get some significant blowback,” said pro-Trump attorney John Pierce, who has represented dozens of Jan. 6 defendants. “They are not a shy group of people.”
A recent CNN poll found 69 percent of Americans oppose pardons for “most people convicted of crimes” related to the Capitol riot, including about 71 percent of independents and 77 percent of moderates, but 55 percent of Republicans supported clemency while 45 percent opposed it.
“It’s insulting," said former U.S. Capitol police officer Harry Dunn. "It’s kind of a slap in the face. It’s a slap in the face not just to me but to every law enforcement officer who had to endure that day.”
Trump embraced the Jan. 6 movement during his campaign, and while he's offered varying degrees of support for pardoning the rioters, their families and supporters believe he's committed to springing them from jails and prisons now that he's been re-elected.
“The only thing I could think of when I heard that Trump won the election was that my mom is coming home,” said Savannah Huntington, whose mother Rachel Powell was found guilty of multiple felonies and destruction of government property for breaking a window at the Capitol with an axe. “I believe that Trump is a man of his word.”