23 Jan 2025

Federal Judges Chastise DJT’s Blanket Release of Jan. 6 Capitol Attackers

by Bonnie | | 0

Three federal judges chastised Donald Trump’s order for blanket release of participants in the 6 January 2021 attack on the USA’s Capitol during election certification proceedings.

Trump’s executive order of 20 January 2025 gave blanket pardons and sentence commutations as well as immediate release to offenders who had been convicted. For those whose trial or sentencing were pending, he ordered release “with prejudice” which would prevent their cases from ever being taken up again in the future.

USA District Judge Beryl Howell, District Judge Tanya Chutkan and District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly separately chastised Trump’s order. These were the first federal judges to comment publicly since the order was signed and they did not hold back. (Chutkan was due to preside over Trump’s criminal case for attempting to alter the 2020 election until he was re-elected and all cases against him were dropped.)

Howell’s criticism was sharpest, saying Trump’s action “raises the dangerous specter of future lawless conduct by other poor losers and undermines the rule of law.” Although Howell and Chutkan dismissed the cases before them, as ordered, they did not fully comply. Their dismissals were “without prejudice” which leaves the door open for prosecutors to bring the charges again in the future.

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