Below is my column in the New York Post on the pardoning of the January 6th defendants by President Donald Trump. The scope of the pardon appears broader than some had hoped. What is clear is that any such relief should not extend to violent actors, particularly those who attacked police officers. However, the Justice Department itself may have made the strongest case for presidential pardons.
Here is the column:
On January 20, 2025, the “shock and awe” campaign of the Justice Department came to an end as President Donald Trump pardoned 1,500 January 6th defendants.
Four years ago, the Justice Department set out to send a chilling message to the nation. In an interview with CBS News a year later, Justice Department official Michael Sherwin indicated that they wanted to send a message with the harsh treatment of defendants.
Sherwin explained that “our office wanted to ensure that there was shock and awe … it worked because we saw through media posts that people were afraid to come back to D.C. because they’re, like, ‘If we go there, we’re gonna get charged.’ … We wanted to take out those individuals that essentially were thumbing their noses at the public for what they did.”
The awe is gone but the shock remains at the Justice Department.
If Sherwin and his colleagues hoped to “Trump proof” the nation, they failed in spectacular fashion.
While there was ample basis for criminal charges, the excessive treatment of some of the January 6th defendants undermined the credibility of their prosecutions for many.
That is no easy feat.
Most of us denounced the January 6th riot as a desecration of our constitutional process.
Those who engaged in the rioting, and most importantly the violence, needed to be punished.
However, what followed left many increasingly uneasy.
The Justice Department rounded up hundreds and, even though most were charged with relatively minor crimes of unlawful entry or trespass, the Justice Department opposed the release of many from jail and sought absurdly long sentences in some cases.
It also sought restrictions on defendants that raised troubling first amendment concerns.
In my recent book, “Indispensable Right,” I discuss these cases and their troubling elements.
A good example is the handling of the most well-known case of the so-called QAnon Shaman.
Bare-chested, wearing an animal headdress, horns, and red-white-and-blue face paint, Jake Angeli Chansley became the iconic image of the riot.
Seeking to make examples of these defendants, the Justice Department took special measures in hammering Chansley. He was held in solitary confinement and denied bail.
Chansley was treated more harshly because of his visibility. It was his costume, not his conduct, that seemed to drive the sentencing.
In the hearing, Judge Royce Lamberth noted, “He made himself the image of the riot, didn’t he? For good or bad, he made himself the very image of this whole event.”
Lamberth hit Chansley with a heavy 41-month sentence for “obstructing a federal proceeding.”
However, long withheld footage, showed recently that Chansley (like hundreds of people that day) simply walked into the Capitol past police officers and was then escorted by officers through the Capitol.
At one point, two officers not only appear to guide him to the floor but actually try to open locked doors for him.
Chansley is shown walking unimpeded through a large number of armed officers with his four-foot flag-draped spear and horned Viking helmet on his way to the Senate floor.
Does that make Chansley’s actions acceptable, let alone commendable?
Of course not.
He deserved to be arrested and punished.
However, what many saw was a troubled individual being made an example for others.
In my book, I discuss how, in history, “rage rhetoric” was allowed to become “state rage.”
This is one such case.
Trump ran on the promise to pardon these defendants and secured not just the White House but the popular vote.
It was not just the public that rejected the narrative of January 6th as an “insurrection.”
In the recent Supreme Court decision in Fischer v. U.S. to reject hundreds of charges in January 6th cases for the obstruction of legal proceedings, the Court left most cases as simply a mass trespass and unlawful entry.
The shock may be gone for these defendants, but it may only be beginning for the Justice Department and the FBI.
When the campaign of Hillary Clinton secretly funded the infamous Steele Dossier to launch the Russian conspiracy investigation, it was the Justice Department that was not just the willing but eager partner.
The “insurance policy” described by former FBI official Peter Strzok was redeemed in investigations that derailed much of Trump’s first term.
Later, it was the Justice Department again that pursued a no-holds-barred effort to convict Trump before the election.
The Justice Department is the hardest of silos in Washington to reform.
Unlike most departments, it is largely homogenous, with thousands of lawyers who share professional and cultural ties.
It is a department composed of people who are by their very definition, litigious.
Trump insisted on selecting an Attorney General, nominee Pam Bondi, who has no past ties or identification with the department.
For the Justice Department, it must feel like the Visigoths arriving at the gates of Rome . . . only to be let in by the citizens.
According to polling, the public ultimately found the “barbarians” less threatening than those who have insisted that Rome would fall.
That must certainly be shocking for many in Washington, but the record of the Justice Department showed how the awe can become awful when officials feel the license of state rage.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
So one has to ask…
Did the judge have the right to withhold bail? (Legally yes he could but would that constitute harsh and unusual punishment in this case?)
In short, there are some who spent years in prison awaiting trial where all of the charges were finally dropped.
These were non-violent offenses by many who had no prior criminal records.
Even w the Pardons, how do you address the prosecutorial misconduct?
When you consider the BLM riots that caused more damage costing over a billion around the country w no serious jail time… even those that assaulted federal officers around the country… how do you compensate those who peacefully walked in?
The J6 committed suborned perjury and framed the evidence by withholding exculpatory evidence from those who were being persecuted by the prosecution.
The judge(s)’ actions were blatantly politically motivated. A violation of their judicial canons.
One has to ask Turley, where do you go from here?
-Gumby
Dear Prof Turley,
I have footage of the Q-non Shaman helping people and administering aid in the halls of that august body from his pouch of fairy dust. Friend and foe alike.
I vividly recall when the Shaman climbed the steps and assumed the senate president’s chair and gavel. Thought he was the best short-term senate pro-tem president since Cassius Clay (Ky Stateman, not the boxer).
*ltr turns out he was just looking for Jenny .. .
Those critical of Professor Turley and who are so supportive of the travesty of the treatment of the January 6th Defendants should read this speech by Justice Jackson made to Federal Prosecutors in 1940 and carefully as objectively possible despite their very closed minds, consider what has been done to the Defendants by the US DOJ. There is no justification for the violence and there is no objection for a proper and legal prosecution and punishment for that violence. But, what has happened is neither proper, legal, or most importantly….fair and even handed with genuine application of justice being offered or accepted by the DOJ.
https://www.roberthjackson.org/speech-and-writing/the-federal-prosecutor/
OT
Global Warming Alert!
Enviro-Wackjobs, there are blizzards from Houston to New Orleans!
“In 2000, Dr. David Viner of University of East Anglia’s disgraced Climatic Research Unit advised, “Within a few years winter snowfall will become a very rare and exciting event.” “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is.”
25 years later we have blizzards in New Orleans.
Turley’s right. Justice shouldn’t just be about the facts of a crime, it should also take into account political affiliation. If you commit violence toward someone in the name of Trump, it shouldn’t be considered a crime.
Other than the police officer who murdered Ashli Babbit, provide the name of someone who “committed violence toward someone in the name of Trump,” whose actions are not considered a crime. If you can’t supply a name, then STFU.
Old Man,
There was evidence of protesters smashing windows to get into areas that were blocked off.
The interesting thing was that there were police in riot gear standing by as Ashley went in thru the hole and was subsequently shot.
That officer should have been charged and gone to prison. He is being sued in civil court for wrongful death of Babbit.
But here’s the crux. Who lit the match?
Was it an FBI informant?
There’s a lot of information not released and I fear much was destroyed which would have been exculpatory.
I’m not sure of what you are asking… you want to know if someone was violent and their actions not a crime?
It would be the ANTIFA guy who broke the windows and was inciting people forward. He was never charged.
The phrase “committed violence toward someone” means violence against the person, not just property. It does not include breaking windows as that is violence against property. That’s what I was asking about. I’ve seen a lot of footage, including the breaking of a window, but I haven’t seen the violence against the person that the anonymous commenter claimed.
“the police officer who murdered Ashli Babbit”
Was that jerk included in Biden’s pardons? Or could he still be indicted for Babbit’s murder?
@Number6
They declined to prosecute, gave him a promotion and then some.
He’s facing a wrongful death lawsuit.
He will probably skate on the murder charges but the civil lawsuit will bankrupt him.
And the State will have to pay out as well.
-Gumby
“They declined to prosecute,”
“Declining to prosecute” is not a pardon correct. In other words, barring a statue of limitations issue, it does not create an insurmountable legal impediment to an indictment in the future? A future that has Trump as President and Bondi as US AG? Why is that not a reversible decision? Why shouldn’t the new administration reverse it NOW? It may be too late to visit justice on those that Biden pardoned, but perhaps a fitting example could be made of Michael Byrd.
And if you storm the White House in an attempt to get in and murder Trump and his family, as long as a Senator named Kamala Harris says “you should not and will not stop rioting” while bailing those arrested out for more pillaging and burning, and a would be future President Biden tells the nation “these are a group of courageous patriotic Americans”, that should not be considered a crime.
Democrat Different Double Standards™
Well now. So after Professor Turley spent the past 4 years insisting Trump genuinely wanted his supporters to march over to the Capitol on J6 to “peacefully & patriotically” protest Biden’s Electoral College victory being certified, how does the author of The Indispensible Right react when Trump pardons his J6 suppporters who were convicted of violently assaulting police officers? He attacks the Biden DOJ.
Turley claims the public rejected the narrative that J6 was an insurrection, but doesn’t cite any polls as supporting evidence. JT has consistently ignored that 10 House Republicans voted to impeach Trump for inciting the J6 insurrection, 7 Republican Senators voted to convict Trump for inciting an insurrection & GOP Senate leader, McConnell, said “There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.”
It was breathtakingly idiotic for Biden to pardon Hunter & his family. And we’ll soon see how public polling reacts to Trump pardoning his supporters who violently attacked law enforcement officers.
. . . violently attacked law enforcement officers.
Who are you talking about? Supply a name, or STFU.
I would say that the best poll that the public rejected the narrative that J6 was an insurrection occurred last November. The house and senate republicans were presented with less than complete evidence, we now know that information was withheld from their consideration, video evidence, FBI informant involvement, etc. Since the process was tainted and biased from the start, full pardons are the only reasonable remedy.
Turley just can’t stop shooting himself in the foot. While acknowledging that Trump-devoted criminals were wrong to inflict injuries on Capitol Police–not to mention the millions of dollars of damage done to the Capitol itself, Turley just HAS to find something, anything, to keep the disciples believing–so he attacks the DOJ as having gone overboard in prosecuting the January 6 insurrectionists. How pathetic. Turley: you know you are helping mislead gullible people by selling Trump as legitimate when you know he is a criminal, a sociopath and nothing resembling a patriot. Where are our American values of law and order when those who assault police officers are considered heroes and even after getting convicted or pleading guilty, receive full pardons because they were motivated by a malignant narcissist who is a sore loser? Why are trash like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers celebrated–Turley–you DO know what they stand for. What message did these across-the-board pardons send, and what are the implications for the future? Turley: do you do it because you are hoping for a federal judgeship or maybe even an appointment to the SCOTUS? Or, is it the money? Regardless of your motivation, you demean yourself. Where is Jack Webb when we need him?
Where is Nurse Ratched when you need her?
I ❤️ Nurse Ratched
Women that wear those nursing uniforms are so Hot 🥰
Saw Turley speak at an event 10 years ago and was impressed at his thoughtful, measured, and reasoned speech. Seems like a totally different person based on his writings of the last few years.
No. He is the same person. He is just pointing out the stupid, crazy and corruption of his party. We all see it. That is why the good professor is so successful and respected. Well, respected by sane and normal people.
Turley just can’t stop shooting himself in the foot.
Gigi keeps putting her hatred of her host Professor Turley and Trump on public display as The Fire Ho Of Democrat Lies. As though she has credibility!
The rule of law is eroded when unduly harsh punishments are imposed based on a political motivation, and when the guilty get off scot free. That about sums up the Biden administration and Merrick Garland’s approach to the law.
Most of us denounced the January 6th riot as a desecration of our constitutional process.
Professor Turley, when you finally wrote (repeatedly) about “desecration of our constitutional process” after J6, you were four years of silence and multiple riots late, and one uniform set of standards short.
You never once wrote a column stating that Obama’s final two Attorney Generals and FBI Directors who committed serial felonies attempting to take out Trump with lawfare and the Democrats’ illegal “Russia Dossier” consecrated our Constitutional process.
You never wrote a column stating that every one them should have been indicted for the felonies they repeatedly committed before those FISA courts as that was a desecration of our constitutional process.
Nor about the actions of Alvin Bragg and Merchan in New York. Nor the actions of your friend and fellow Washington DC lawyer, Attorney General Merrick Garland. Nor Jack Smith either in his political prosecution in 2012 and again with his last. No ‘desecration of our constitutional process in that’ – just poor legal work and a teeny-weenie bit of bias.
Why are criminal actions of THOSE Democrat lawyers deliberately abusing the power of their offices and our courts to deprive Americans of their rights NOT a desecration of our constitutional office? Selective outrage? Democrat Different Double Standards?
My guess: while they all abused their oath of office and the rule of law, they are also your fellow Democrat lawyers – and many of them are your fellow members of the Washington DC Bar Association. Can’t have any awkward moments at gatherings of the clan!
I have never expressed support for the J6 riot. But the cells they were thrown in were never occupied for one minute, much less years, by the Democrat’s street thugs who assaulted the White House a few months earlier. The ones who attempted to murder Secret Service and Capitol Police, resulting in over 50 Secret Service and Capitol Police transported to hospital with wounds suffered repelling the assault over two days.
Similarly, the protesters/rioters that broke into the Senate attempting to stop the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh – where the senators were actually present – NEVER spent a day in the cells the J6 defendants sat in for years awaiting trial.
Professor Turley, those Democrat Different Double Standards of yours regularly remind us that Democrats have a real problem defending both the Constitution and Bill of Rights with one uniform standard, where all are equal in the eyes of the law.
Old Airborne Dog
Old Coward “82nd Lil Bow Wow,” what were your MOS, Awards, Campaign, and Theater?
Why are you stealing valor?
The desecration of the Constitutional process came from Congress.
Congress is not a rubber stamp for state electors. It is charged by the Constitution with several duties — two being ensuring the electors were chosen validly — meaning according to state legislatures and by the date Congress sets — and ensuring the candidates are eligible.
Harris is not a natural born citizen and should have been rejected by Congress.
“When it meets on January 6, Congress must enforce these Constitutional provisions respecting the Appointment of Electors
Article I, §4, clause 1; Article II, §1, clause 2; and Article II, §1, clause 4”
“Congress must also enforce these Constitutional provisions respecting the qualifications for the Offices of President and Vice-President
Article II, §1, clause 5”
https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/electors/
Time to move the DOJ out of DC. That’s the only way to eliminate the rampant political incest that has permeated the DOJ
The problem with this column, as with everything else about the ‘riot’ of January 6, is that there has never been an impartial investigation that has examined all of the available evidence, including a precise chronological record what actually outside and inside the Capitol that day. Until we have the findings of such an investigation, everything that everybody says is little more than opinion based on anecdotal data, assertions, claims, and one’s ideological preference and personal perspective.
That said, what we do know, e.g., Pelosi’s refusal of Trump’s offer to provide troops to prevent trouble, plans by Cruz and others to formally contest the results, the testimony of the head of the Capitol Police (who was never called by the J6 Committee), and the presence of FBI informants in the crowd, as well as personal accounts by the accused and their friends and relatives, suggests only two viable conclusions — either the Democrats wanted the riot, or something similar to occur in order to prevent efforts by Republicans to contest the results of the election formally and in public, or a complete screw-up, for which nobody was responsible, including most ‘rioters,’ which is clear to anybody who knows anything about the behavior of crowds or has been swept up in a crowd.
Then again, we do not have an impartial investigation that has examined all of the available evidence, including a precise chronological record of the casting, collection, curing, and counting of the votes in 2020 either.
But we do have a fairly detailed record of the BLM riots of 2020, including the burning of downtown Kenosha, the siege of government buildings in Portland, and the murder of those who tried to stop the “peaceful” protesters, and we can set months of violence, billions of dollars of damage, and scores of dead and injured against the relatively brief, unarmed incursion of protester into the Capitol on January 6, during which two protesters were killed by police and scores of police and protesters were injured. Anyone who thinks the latter was more serious than the former is either not thinking clearly or lives in a DC bubble that thinks a building is more important than a city center and probably should not be paid for their opinion, much less given much credence.
* They must be punished and made an example. Seat them in front of the capitol with dunce hats on for 30 days! 8 to 5 of course.
Old Guy: What are you talking about? All of the testimony before the House’s January 6 Committee was given under oath, and the “precise, chronological record” you want laid out of what happened that day–both at the White House and at the Capitol–was down-to-the-minute precise. Had Pres. Trump just acted like a grown-up after the 2020 election, admitted what he knew and had been told by all his closest aides–that he had lost the election–the bloody, violent mess on January 6th would never have happened. (And then he stamped his feet and skipped the 2021 Inauguration, like a crybaby–sheesh!) And for him to sit in his private dining room on January 6 and watch the riot at the Capitol on TV for several hours, saying nothing until finally forced to, despite pleas from his family and associates, is beyond the pale. Five or six people died as a result of that day, all avoidable, and many other law-enforcement officers were maimed for life. I was willing to give him a minimal second chance this time, but after his blanket pardon yesterday–on Inauguration Day no less!–of the ringleaders and most violent of those who participated in the violence and chaos of January 6th, he’s lost me for good. And to your final point: the Capitol Building IS important, but the election process the J6 protesters were trying to stop is integral to our system of government and is FAR more important. That’s why the protesters deserved the book thrown at them!
The J6 Committee was a legal joke and a parliamentary farce. No members from the Republican side of the aisle who were approved by the Republican leadership; no defense allowed, so no cross-examination, no questioning of witnesses by those who disagreed with the Committee; destruction of evidence by the Committee; and on and on. The process was rotten, so the outcome was not credible, something, from what I have read, that also was true of the prosecution of most of the J6 defendants. Both the Committee and the DC courts were reminiscent of the trials staged in the USSR before 1941 and in places like Czechoslovakia after 1946. The charges were exaggerated or absurd (see Supreme Court ruling on obstruction), the sentences ridiculously harsh . . . .
The J6 Committee mounted a ‘show trial’ without the defendant, I assume because they could not compel Trump to attend, and had they, he would have been free to speak and mount a defense, which was the last thing the Committee wanted.
As a country, we have been through the looking glass with Alice for four long years, beginning during the summer of 2020, in part the fault of the politicians and activists, in part the fault of a legal system unable to function properly, but most of all the fault of a partisan and incompetent media which buried reality and gave us a croquet match referred by the Queen of Hearts & her consort instead objective reporting without partisan commentaries.
(Gigi already has her answer . . . . I would remind ‘her’ a lie is a lie no matter how often it is repeated.)
Two links, one on Kenosha ($50 million in damages) and one on the J6 from a blog.
https://sashastone.substack.com/p/trump-does-the-right-thing-and-frees
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/kenosha-rebuilds-after-riots
“All of the testimony before the House’s January 6 Committee was given under oath”
But ONLY the testimony that was allowed. And you ONLY know the testimony that Pelosi’s Soviet J6 committee didn’t conceal from defense lawyers and the House and Senate.
This is how you commies lie by act and omission. The one and only pillar of commie debate: “Please believe me; don’t believe your lying eyes”.
Old Guy: stop it. Please. Pelosi did NOT refuse anything. Trump never offered ANYTHING. That has been proven. MAGA media lies. From “USA Today”:
““Trump Says Pelosi Turned Down His Request For 10,000 National Guard Troops For Jan. 6 Rally…!!!” reads the caption of a Dec. 13 Facebook video that accumulated more than 4,000 views within a couple days.
The video included in the post shows Trump speaking to a crowd on Dec. 11 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he claimed he recommended 10,000 National Guard troops be deployed because he knew the crowd size was going to be “enormous.”
“I recommended 10 but I said do whatever they want, they’re running the Capitol, they know what they’re doing,” Trump says in the video. “And the Capitol police knew about it, she (Pelosi) knew about it, and they turned it down because they said it didn’t look good.”
But Trump’s claim was debunked by fact-checkers in March, after he first made the statement during a Fox News appearance, and it’s still not true. There is no evidence Trump made any formal request about deploying 10,000 National Guard troops before the rally.”
Bombshell transcripts: Trump urged use of troops to protect Capitol on Jan. 6 , but was rebuffed
“The President just says, ‘Hey look at this. It’s going to be a large amount of protesters come in here on the 6th, and make sure that you have sufficient National Guard or Soldiers to make sure it’s a safe event,’” Milley told the inspector general in one of two interviews he did in spring 2021 during a probe of the Pentagon’s response to Jan. 6.”
https://justthenews.com/accountability/watchdogs/bombshell-transcripts-trump-urged-use-troops-protect-capitol-jan-6-was?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=offthepress&utm_campaign=home
Old Guy: stop it. Please. Pelosi did NOT refuse anything.
Gigi now lies that Pelosi did not refuse the J6 Committee members Republicans chose. Never done before by either a Republican or a Democrat!
Speaker Pelosi Rejects GOP Nominees For The Jan. 6 Panel
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/21/1018850848/pelosi-rejects-2-gop-nominees-for-the-jan-6-panel-citing-integrity-of-the-probe
At the same time, Gigi claims she has credibility with readers here after posting blatant LIES like this.
Old Airborne Dog
Anyone who thinks the latter was more serious than the former is either not thinking clearly or lives in a DC bubble that thinks a building is more important than a city center and probably should not be paid for their opinion, much less given much credence.
The Democrat Prime Directive: Nothing To See Here, Please Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes™
Democrat lawyers and brother members of the Washington DC Bar who did NOT “desecrate our constitutional processes”:
– Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch
– Obama Attorney General Sally Yates
– Obama Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco
– Obama FBI Director James Comey
– Obama FBI Director Robert Mueller
– Obama Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe
….
It’s a long list. But every one of them committed multiple felonies repeatedly in FISA courts in order to deprive Trump as well as ordinary Americans of their civil rights through the color of law – another felony. Doing so by using a “Russia Dossier”, that they knew was the illegal creation of Clinton and Obama, illegally written by a Russian spy they were investigating.
To be clear: NONE of those felonies committed by Washington DC lawyers was a crime. NONE of those felonies was a “desecration of our constitutional process”.
And how could it be? Not a single one of them was even dragged back into those courts for sentencing for contempt of court for the perjury and uttering false documents to the court.
Not a single one of them was disbarred by the Washington DC Bar Association that they and Professor Turley derive their status as lawyers from.
And then there’s the current crop of Democrat lawyers serving in public office as Lavarentiy Beria police state fascists: Merrick Garland, Alvin Bragg, etc.
No police state fascism by Democrat lawyers to see here! Please Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes™
Old Airborne Dog
As I see things, it was the Deep State interests that had a compelling need for something that would provide a guarantee that Trump would not get a second term in 2021 (because he had learned the hard way that those interests had “played” him during his first term, and a player who prides himself on that skill, and has himself been played, is going to be insulted, and out to decisively turn the tables), not exclusively Democrats. J6 appears to have served that need nicely. The furor over it guaranteed that, even if Trump had been successful in an attempt to get the original Electoral College results overturned, there would be a plausible pretext to remove him from office. The Deep State still very much has its dirty hands on the levers of power in DC; it will take much more than one election and a few dozen Executive Orders to change that. For that reason, you are unlikely to ever see a full, honest accounting of any incitement to riot that was supplied by government functionaries. And, four years later, Trump’s second term may now prove less of a threat to the Deep State than it had originally feared. Some of his appointments appear to be designed to appease it. Whether or not that is merely a pragmatic strategy designed to get his appointees approved by the Deep State’s Senators remains to be seen, as does whether Trump truly intends to demolish the Deep State, or accommodate it and coexist with it. The best few months should answer that question. I’m hopeful that he will rid us of it once and for the foreseeable future, but skeptical that he can accomplish that, even if it is his desired outcome.
“next few months”
As I see things, it was the Deep State interests that had the most compelling need for something that would provide a guarantee that Trump would not get a second term in 2021 (because he had learned the hard way that those interests had “played” him during his first term, and a player who prides himself on that skill, and has himself been played, is going to be insulted, and out to decisively turn the tables), not exclusively Democrats. J6 appears to have served that need nicely. The furor over it guaranteed that, even if Trump had been successful in an attempt to get the original Electoral College results overturned, there would be a plausible pretext to remove him from office. The Deep State still very much has its dirty hands on the levers of power in DC; it will take much more than one election and a few dozen Executive Orders to change that. For that reason, you are unlikely to ever see a full, honest accounting of any incitement to riot that was supplied by government functionaries. And, four years later, Trump’s second term may now prove less of a threat to the Deep State than it had originally feared. Some of his appointments appear to be designed to appease it. Whether or not that is merely a pragmatic strategy designed to get his appointees approved by the Deep State’s Senators remains to be seen, as does whether Trump truly intends to demolish the Deep State, or accommodate it and coexist with it. The best few months should answer that question. I’m hopeful that he will rid us of it once and for the foreseeable future, but skeptical that he can accomplish that, even if it is his desired outcome.
This all just compounds the problem of what should’ve happened to a pack attacking the Capitol on 1/6. Bunch of magats should’ve gotten strafed on the steps and the survivors should’ve been zip tied and thrown in vans.
Now we’re on to the madness of a DEXTER solution.
As well, all of the Democrat street thugs in the 570+ Mostly Peaceful Election Season of Rioting, Pillaging, Arson and Murder should have gotten the 5.56 solution right in the face from National Guard gunships.
If we’d strafed those tens of thousands of rioters attempting to murder police and attacking federal buildings in the months earlier, and gunned down in Ashley Babbitt style the rioters who broke into the Senate in an attempt to prevent the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh, J6 never would have happened.
The lawless actors in DoJ will get away with it. They used geo fencing without warrants as probable cause, then as noted cooked the facts, and ignored the truth.
The prosecutors should do hard time measured in years.
The J6’ers should be entitled to a class action award:
Each J6 prisoner should get:
$1000 a day confined.
$2000 a day in solitary.
$5000 for each instance of abuse.
And $10,000 for each charged considered to be “overcharging”.
But being America, the DoJ and its hitmen will be allowed to slide. After all, “Boys will be boys!”
Mr. Turley: You said this just now: “What is clear is that any such relief should not extend TO VIOLENT ACTORS [emphasis added], particularly those who attacked police officers.” I completely agree, though sadly it appears that Mr. Trump disagrees on the violent part.
But what I would ask you to remember is that there were also a number of violent ACTRESSES at the Capitol on January 6th as well, not just violent ACTORS. Please don’t leave out the women participants in January 6th! (And using only the male term to refer to women is a very “progressive,” liberal thing to do. Please don’t.)
* 😂
Men and pregnant people. 😂
* I really like Pam Bondi. She’s got a pair of ovaries on her. 😂
Expect to see her on the 2028 Presidential Ticket.
It will be very strong field in ’28. Of course Vance will be there, Rubio, DeSantis…I would say that those might be the big three right now, but who knows? Republicans have a very strong bench going into the next election. The left has a slew of failed governors and a senator that lied about being native american to secure a university job.
What I like is that Rubio, DeSantis and Bondi are all Floridians. You can add Mike Walz and Byron Donalds to the FL list as well.
I’m uncertain if either one has ambitions for national office, but if those exist, I would not count out Governors Abbott or Youngkin. Particularly Abbott, whose brilliant “outside the box” strategy of busing illegals to blue cities was essential to putting that issue on the front burner and keeping it there.
Agreed, Anonymous. You certainly don’t want to leave out Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by police. -dag
Ashli was an unarmed combat veteran, who was killed as she was climbing through a broken window in the Capitol building. The policeman who killed her faced no legal consequence.
Had Ashli Babbitt gotten through that window–which wasn’t broken until the mob she was a part of was working at breaking it–she would have been mere feet from a door going onto the House floor, where many members had been conducting official Electoral business (others were in the gallery, because of the pandemic need for spacing). And the mob trying to assault the House floor would have been right there with her, had she gotten through. The film of the mob trying to break through the doors into the lobby is petrifying. The Capitol policeman who shot her was doing his job, defending the House members (some of whom were escaping via the comparable door at the other end of the lobby, but most were still in the chamber). She was a real traitor to her oath in the military.
Had Byrd made a small error in his cowardly murder Babbitt at point blank range, or the bullet had passed through Babbitt’s body, he could have also murdered one of his fellow Capitol police dressed in full battle rattle who were just standing there, armed to the teeth, watching Babbitt crawl through that window while not bothering to lay a hand on her.
Apparently, Byrd had to heroically kill Babbitt rather than use a lower level of force to stop her because his fellow Capitol Police who escaped being hit by his murderous gunfire weren’t doing their jobs. Can this now be the standard of LEO use of force from this point onward for every single black rioter who is endangering innocent citizens from this point onward?
Let’s praise the fact that Byrd was black and Babbitt was white. Imagine the national chaos if a white Capitol Police officer similarly murdered at point blank range one of the black rioters who earlier broke into the Senate while attempting to prevent an earlier confirmation – the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh.
Democrat Different Double Standards™. The central theme of Soviet Democrat debate.
Hopefully you continue to cling to that as your campaign strategy for the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential elections!
Old Airborne Dog
Police were standing by Ashli’s feet. Had the shooter said something, they could have grabbed her ankles and told her to back up. It was absolutely poor judgment on the part of the policeman who shot her.
“It was absolutely poor judgment on the part of the policeman who shot her”
The fvcker wanted to play hero, and Ashli Babbitt was expendable in the interest if achieving that goal. Murder, not “poor judgement”.
All over NBC and ABC last night and this morning is coverage of the terrible wrong Trump did with his pardons of J6 protesters/rioters. Really quite laughable. Biden pardoned or granted clemency to 1,500, then 37 on death row, then another @2,500, not including his son and family. Interviews/statements from Brian Selznick’s brother, on and on.
What NBC and ABC did NOT MENTION, not even a whisper, was that Biden also forgave bona fide police officer-killers Ferrone Claiborne and Terence Richardson (the “Waverly Two”) and Leonard Peltier (who killed FBI agents), inter alia.
I would take the Neon logos and Trademark signs of NBC and ABC media HQ/stations, -hang them outside against a fencewall, -and shoot holes in them at sunrise.
lin –
“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Dear Anonymous: Please read it again. I am not talking about the wrongs: it is very clear that I am talking about the lack of media coverage. Not even close, and clearly no cigar, thanks anyway.
Lin,
Good way to own the anonymoron! Yes, it’s low level IQ, we have to explain everything to it.
UpstateFarmer — After January 6th, I could NEVER support Trump again. Because you and others obviously can and do, I’ll never understand what YOUR IQ level must be, though I honestly would like to understand why he’s able to con so many, as he has. As a life-long Republican, it’s been so sad watching our party be decimated as it has by this man who values everything but what I was taught while growing up was what Republicans value. Ronald Reagan is surely turning over in his grave.
lin, I re-read it and stand by what I said. What Trump did yesterday was unforgiveable. If you want to go after NBC and ABC for ignoring Biden on cop and FBI killers, go ahead, but don’t ignore that Trump’s action yesterday involved cop killers too. Again, I stand by: “two wrongs don’t make a right.” The media talked about Biden’s making many death-row inmates into life sentences instead, but that still leaves them in prison. Trump now is letting all these convicted J6’ers–who attacked Congress and the Capitol–out of jail. Inexcusable.
No cops were killed on J6.
Only Trump supporters were killed….by police.
Lin,
Thank you for having the intestinal fortitude to watch that MSM garbage. You took one for the team!
Lin and Upstate are two reasons why I come here every day!!!!
hullbobby, these two certainly are interesting, aren’t they? Would love to have an autopsy of their brains after they pass, to see if we can figure out what went wrong…
I normally don’t fool with the comments’ sections of Mr. Turley’s writings, but today I decided to make an exception. January 6th ruined so much, about our country, and it’s hard to watch people try to defend the chaos and illegal actions of that day–not to mention the five or six deaths which resulted from it–that happened at the Capitol that day.
Maybe you could just go back to ‘not fooling with the comments’ section.’
Quite possible many people would be happy.
Same here. Also John Say, and a dozen others, including, believe it or not, Milhouse.
“… Most of us denounced the January 6th riot as a desecration of our constitutional process. …”
However when it comes out years & years from now that the J6 event was truly an instigated “Operation” orchestrated by the; Government, Media, and Think Tank Gurus (a few divisions of ‘The Swamp’), the majority of what you say here Jonathan will be merely a record, a summation, of what transpired in the observable-theater, of the Public ethos.
Overall it was truly an ‘operation’ to keep those in power of the State (Deep State Swamp), in power. From the the Man Hunt of Donald J. Trump to J6 to Lawfair … … … It was an Operation, and some would phrase it as : It was business as usual.
No ‘Shock & Awe – just Disgusting as desecrating the Constitution and Flag of the America People.
That’s the way you make a proper”denouncement”.
I would rather see the DOJ and FBI in ruins and ash than allow them to carry on with the demented self-righteousness those Ivory Tower lawyers pronounced over all Americans! Trumps mass pardons are only the beginning of necessary reforms and tough love for a bunch hateful bureaucrats that see themselves as the enlightened rulers over the Great Unwashed! We will enjoy watching the Purge, the parading of the shamed barristers by name in front of America, and the opening of their precious files for all to see how the filthy sausage is made in that Great Dump called the Department of Injustice and Federal Bureau of Ingrates! You Rebuild by Dismantling the greasy slimy machine and fumigating for rats and roaches!
I was watching that “riot” that day on streaming. The “rioters” were peaceful and exercising their First Amendment rights until the Capitol Police started spraying mace. They are political prisoners and every single one should be pardoned.
The bigger news:
Yesterday Trump created the legal precedent for any future president to abolish 2nd Amendment gun rights!
If Trump can amend or abolish the 14th Amendment through Executive Order, the same standard applies to the 2nd Amendment. Republicans should hope that the courts overturn Trump’s liberal interpretation of constitutional law.
If this stands, any future president can do this to 2nd Amendment gun rights! The U.S. Constitution can only be altered through the constitutional-amendment process, not through Executive Order.
Of course you chose to use the name Anonymous. Who in their right mind would publicly write what you did and put their real name to it. I can always tell the low information voter the democrats are always targeting by their lack of intelligence about any subject matter of importance.
In the end the Supreme Court will decide the original intent of the 2nd and 14th amendments.
😂
President Trump isn’t amending or abolishing the 14th Amendment.
What nonsense.
He, and many, many of us, want the 14th to be properly understood — as the Framers intended it to be.
You can read those debates yourself.
Pam Bondi is breathing a sigh of relief that these blanket pardons are over with before she takes office.
Why would she care, pardons are purely a presidential power. The greatest thing Mitch McConnell ever did was to prevent that hack, Merrick Garland from joining the USSC.
” The greatest thing Mitch McConnell ever did was to prevent that hack, Merrick Garland from joining the USSC.”
Amen!
* Indeed! Bondi has a pair of ovaries on her! 😂
Pam Bondi’s hot. Really looking forward to her being interviewed.
Have you seen her xxx photoshopped pics? She’s perfect.
Attorney General Pam Bondi spent the other day bytch slapping Senator Adam Bull Schiff and the rest of the Democrat thugocracy.
You puff yourself up believing that she’s scared of the likes of YOU????
But she’ll have nothing to defocus on when trump molests her.