President-elect Trump vowed on the campaign trail to pardon rioters accused of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress certified the 2020 election win of his Democratic opponent.
“The moment we win, we will rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime, and I will sign their pardons on Day 1,” Trump said at a Wisconsin rally in September.
Now, Jan. 6 defendants and their attorneys are hoping he'll make good on that promise.
More than 1,500 rioters have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack with some 645 of them sentenced to time in prison and 143 of them ordered into home detention.
Among those defendants are 10 individuals who were convicted by juries of seditious conspiracy — plotting to use force to oppose the authority of the U.S. government — for attempting to block the certification of President Biden’s election victory against Trump.
“Every January 6 defendant is hoping and anxious for some relief from President Trump,” said Carmen Hernandez, a defense attorney who has represented several Jan. 6 defendants, including in the conspiracy cases against members of the right-wing extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
“I will be asking for pardons and commutations,” she added.
Hours after Trump was deemed president-elect, rioter Christopher Carnell asked a federal judge to delay a hearing in his case because relief from Trump is expected to be imminent. Carnell was 18........