President-elect Donald Trump made a campaign promise to pardon people implicated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, The Hill reported. With Trump's decisive win on Election Day, these defendants are eager to see him fulfill that promise.
At least 1,500 people were charged in the unrest at the Capitol while protesting the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Of those, 143 were put on house arrest, while another 645 were sent to prison.
At a rally in Wisconsin on Sept. 7, Trump promised that he would "rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized" by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' regime. "And I will sign their pardons on day one, I will sign it on day one," he added.
After the unrest at the Capitol, President Joe Biden's Justice Department launched a crusade against these ordinary Americans caught up in the protest. The agency spent years and wasted resources in what The Hill called "the largest and most complex prosecutions in the agency’s history."
The DOJ claimed that hundreds of people involved that day were insurrectionists and the worst kind of criminals, regardless of the nature of the activity they engaged in. Now, they're hoping Trump makes good on the promise to free them, as Democrats will surely object.
One of those protesters included Jenny Cudd, who received two months of probation after being convicted for entering and wandering around the government building. Cudd was a business owner who helped her community, but was hunted down by the government.
Following Trump's decisive victory, Cudd took to X, formerly Twitter, to express her hopes. "It means the world to all of us J6ers to know that what we did was not in vain — and all of the pain and suffering and the families torn apart and the lives destroyed was not done in vain," Cudd said.
"And we’re all really excited that we’re about to get presidential pardons," she added. While some of those prosecuted were part of so-called extremist groups, many were people like Cudd who just wanted their voices heard.
The riot on Jan. 6 was not a productive way to protest and shouldn't have unfolded as it did. However, the ugliest part of the day was what Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to do with it.
According to CNN, footage of Pelosi that day showed that she was bent on pinning the entire situation on Trump. While her senior aide bounced off ideas for a speech for her, Pelosi stopped him when she included a call for Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to resign.
"I think our focus has to be on the president. Let’s not divert ourselves," Pelosi said. It was only two days later that Pelosi opened an impeachment inquiry against Trump, The New York Times reported at the time.
"The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution," Pelosi said of Trump. She claimed that he "must be held accountable — no one is above the law."
The incident on Jan. 6 was not one of the nation's best days. However, the fact that the government has doggedly pursued the people involved in minor infractions while pinning an entire insurrection narrative on Trump is disgraceful. These people deserve to have their cases reviewed for pardon, even if it makes the Democrats go insane.
