The prosecution of some protesters who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was obsessive and political. Some pardons of nonviolent offenders were justified and, indeed, were needed to undo the damage their hounding has done to the First Amendment.
However, President Donald Trump went much too far in issuing a blanket pardon to almost every person convicted of offenses committed at the Capitol. His clemency for violent offenders, especially those who attacked law enforcement officers, is shameful, weakens the rule of law, and encourages more violence at political events.
Combined with the shameful pardons issued by former President Joe Biden for his family members just minutes before he ceased to be president, Trump’s clemency makes the case for reining in presidential clemency powers.
The events of Jan. 6 were not the “coup” or “insurrection” that Democrats suggest, but they were a riot that caused $2 million in damage to the Capitol and left more than 140 law enforcement officers injured.
Violent crimes were committed. Some people came prepared for mayhem with hockey sticks, wrenches, and baseball bats. Those people deserved prosecution and severe punishment. Vice President J.D. Vance said the violent would be separated from the nonviolent. They weren’t.
The Biden Justice Department hounded everyone who was there that lamentable day, but that does not make it right to pardon everyone.
More than 1,500 Trump supporters were eventually charged, most for nonviolent offenses such as trespassing. The Biden administration even creatively used a corporate financial record-keeping law to maximize their jail time. This abuse of prosecutorial power was so flagrant that it was shot down by the Supreme Court. The justices noted how selectively the administration used the law to prosecute only Trump supporters and no one else.
Even with their victory at the Supreme Court, hundreds of Trump supporters were convicted of lesser crimes, such as entering restricted areas protected by the Secret Service, even though the government couldn’t prove the defendants knew the area they entered was being protected by the Secret Service.
Such defendants deserved a pardon.
However, real bad actors, such as Daniel Ball, who threw an explosive device at police officers, or Tim Boughner, who stole chemical spray from police officers and used it against them, or David Dempsey, who beat one police officer with a metal crutch, did not.
These men deserve punishment and should not have been pardoned. Security officers had the right and duty to use force to repel those who were trying to break into the Capitol. Pardoning violent rioters is bad. Pardoning rioters who committed violence against police officers trying to restore order is worse.
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It was less than two weeks ago that Vance told Fox News, “Look, if you protested peacefully on Jan. 6 and you’ve had Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned.”
Vance was right then, and Trump is wrong now.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
