Shortly after assuming office for his second term, President Donald Trump issued blanket clemency to the nearly 1,600 people convicted of or awaiting legal proceedings pertaining to offenses related to the January 6th insurrection. Now a report reveals that this clemency spree “unleashed mayhem” with a crime wave throughout the United States
“The American public deserves to understand the mayhem that the Jan. 6 pardons have unleashed,” The New York Times reported on Tuesday. “Among the 12 serious recidivists whom we are aware of, four were in jail or prison at the time of the pardon, and they quickly went on to commit more crimes.”
The crimes committed by violent criminals include a pair of child sex crimes committed against two 12-year-olds by Andrew Paul Johnson, who is said to have promised to pay them from the Jan. 6 restitution payment he expected from the federal government in return for their silence; Brent Holdridge, who in May was arrested for stealing tens of thousands of dollars' worth of industrial copper wire; Brian Betancur, who since his commutation has been accused of assault and battery for allegedly grabbing a woman's hair and of stalking by at least alleged female victims; Christopher Moynihan, who threatened to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and pleaded guilty to harassment; Daniel Tocci, who in March was sentenced to four years in prison for possession of more than 110,000 child pornography images; Enrique Tarrio, who was briefly detained on assault charges roughly a month after Trump ended what would have been a 22-year prison sentence; Jake Lang, who is accused of destroying an ice sculpture at the Minnesota State Capitol and organized a violent anti-Muslim rally in New York City; John Andries, who violated a legal order requested by the mother of his child; Jonathan Munafo, who allegedly made dozens of menacing phone calls after his release and was rearrested after fleeing federal supervision; Matthew Huttle, who is accused of resisting arrest after a traffic stop and being shot and killed by a law enforcement officer; Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was briefly detained on assault charges roughly a month after Trump ended what would have been a 22-year prison sentence; Robert Packer, who was arrested in September after his dogs hospitalized four people and was previously arrested for theft and drunk driving; and Zachary Alam, who was arrested for breaking into a house in Virginia and stealing valuables and had previous convictions for auto theft and driving under the influence.
“This list does not include at least 27 rioters who committed other crimes before they received their pardons,” the Times reported. “That group includes one woman who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing someone while driving drunk and a man who livestreamed a bomb threat while driving around Barack Obama’s neighborhood in Washington.”
Speaking to this journalist for Salon Magazine in June 2021, less than half a year after the insurrection, one of the lawmakers who survived it described that harrowing day in vivid detail.
“I was on the floor and there are not many windows or vantage points outside the chamber,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) told this journalist at the time. “I’ll never forget the uncertainty and terror of knowing there was a violent mob seeking to stop us from doing what we were doing, who were chanting that they wanted to kill members of Congress and that they were armed in a variety of different ways.”
Swalwell recalled texting his wife to kiss his young children after hearing a bomb had been discovered.
“It was traumatizing,” Swalwell recalled. “There was the duality of not just being a witness but of having a job to do and just being so angry that we had to leave.”
He later added, “I really hated leaving the floor. I didn’t like being in retreat because it felt like we were surrendering. It took weeks before the guilt of leaving subsided.”
In that same interview, Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe told this journalist that “the violent attack on the Capitol that took place on Jan. 6 has no parallel in American history.” Seven people died as a result of the January 6th insurrection and at least 174 police officers were assaulted, some suffering serious long-term injuries. Despite the insurrection being motivated by Trump claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Vice President Joe Biden won by a clear margin in the popular vote (81.3 million to 74.2 million) and Electoral College (306-232). Subsequent investigations indicate Trump knew at the time he claimed the election was stolen that his statements were false. Despite that, Trump continues to make those assertions up to the present.
“Someone should read to him ‘Lost, Not Stolen,’ a 2022 report by eight conservatives (two former Republican senators, three former federal appellate judges, a former Republican solicitor general, and two Republican election law specialists),” Washington Post columnist George F. Will recently wrote. “They examined all 187 counts in the 64 court challenges filed in multiple states by Trump and his supporters. Twenty cases were dismissed before hearings on their merits, 14 were voluntarily dismissed by Trump and his supporters before hearings. Of the 30 that reached hearings on the merits, Trump’s side prevailed in only one, Pennsylvania, involving far too few votes to change the state’s result.”
Will added, “Trump’s batting average? .016. In Arizona, the most exhaustively scrutinized state, a private firm selected by Trump’s advocates confirmed Trump’s loss, finding 99 additional Biden votes and 261 fewer Trump votes.”