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Wednesday, January 29, 2025

What do you think about Trump's pardon of the J6ers?


Timothy P. Carney writing at the Washington Examiner, decried Trump's blanket pardon of the January 6ers. You can read his original article
here. He followed up with another article presenting the other side of the story from Matt Braynard, an activist defending the January 6ers. I thought Braynard's arguments in favor of the blanket pardons were sensible, although Carney disagrees. But he fairly presented Braynard's position:
I reached out to Matt Braynard, who has been an activist for years on behalf of the Jan. 6 arrestees. I granted that some of these folks were overcharged, and I asked him for two things: Examples of the most overcharged individuals, in his opinion, and a broader defense of the blanket pardon, as opposed to individual clemencies for specific folks who were grossly mistreated.
On the second question, Braynard gave me a long reply, which came after my deadline. I reprinted the relevant parts of his explanation below.

“I would make four cases for why the broad pardons are justified: First, according to the Federalist Papers, the pardon power exists to allow a President to heal national divisions caused by times of great strife. The first recipients of broad pardons were the violent participants in the Whiskey Rebellion, who tarred and feathered tax collectors (not a pleasant experience) and opened fire on an inspector’s home. Another example is the participants in the Civil War, where Confederates killed 360,000 U.S. soldiers.”

“The violence of these two events far exceeds what took place on January 6th, where no weapons were fired by protesters, and nobody other than protesters was killed.”

“The January 6th First Amendment exercise was the basis for the phony ‘insurrection’ narrative, which served as the casus belli for the FBI to target protesting parents at school board meetings, kick patriotic Americans out of the military, debunk people like myself, and greatly enhance the sentences of the vast majority of J6ers who were not even charged with violence—all done with the ulterior motive of destroying President Trump and his supporters’ chances of success in the upcoming election.”

“This was a grave crime that merits the extraordinary response of broad pardons—to heal the damage caused by the Biden Administration’s abuse of the justice system for tyrannical, political ends.”

“The second reason I would give is that it was fundamentally impossible for J6ers to get a fair trial in D.C. My own criminal defense attorney, whom I had to retain because I was targeted by Jack Smith for telling the truth about the election, told me that his firm and many others forbade their attorneys from taking January 6th cases … Not a single J6er was acquitted by a D.C. jury.”

“Third, the assertion that anyone got a ‘fair’ sentence is garbage. During the violent riots at President Trump’s own inauguration in 2016, police and police property were attacked. But instead of prosecuting those who were arrested for violence, charges were dropped against over 200 of them.”

“Further, there was no accountability for the police who were responsible for provoking the violence by throwing stun and tear gas grenades into a peaceful crowd, which initiated the ‘riot’ in the first place …”

“In 2016, President Obama inaugurated a monument on the National Mall to the ‘Stonewall Riots,’ where New York police officers were violently attacked—and intentionally targeted for murder by being held in a building and having it set on fire. That behavior—far removed from a cop getting hit with a flagpole earning a brutal four-year prison sentence—was excused and lionized because it was ‘provoked.’

“And finally, President Trump campaigned explicitly on issuing these pardons. The American people made their judgment and elected him …”

One of the things I've found particularly offensive about the arrests of those thousands which was slated to continue under the Harris administration, is that many innocent people were coerced into pleading guilty by threats of felony charges and years in prison. Certainly Dr. Simone Gold was one of them. She had a permit that day to give an address, I believe, on the West side of the Capitol which was revoked. Most of the violence took place on the North side. Did Dr. Gold even know what was happening there? She entered an open door (How was anyone to know that it was now illegal to enter "the people's house?") and began to give her talk in the lobby area. She was later arrested and spent several months in jail after agreeing to plea bargain admitting guilt after being threatened with felony charges. Guilt for what? Many who simply walked into the Capitol, some who immediately left when instructed to leave by Capitol police, faced the same demand to plead guilty. Why? Obviously, to give the corrupt FBI and DOJ the appearance of legitimacy. 

Videos are coming out now showing that the Capitol police fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and flash bangs on peaceful protestors. They inflamed the crowd and are at least partially responsible for the violent reaction that followed. [Source]

For the J6ers it may still not be over despite the pardons. The Soros-backed DA in Philadelphia, Larry Krasner, is looking for ways to charge Pennsylvania residents who attended the January 6th rally with state crimes. In one of the most crime infested cities in the country, he'd rather spend resources persecuting people who've already spent years in jail rather than address the tsunami of crime in the City of Brotherly Love. Many of those pardoned have been in jail FOR YEARS without being brought to trial. Many murderers, rapists, and kidnappers don't spend four years in jail. These folks have been brutalized, denied medical care, and suffered all kinds of others injustices while incarcerated in the D.C. jungle. Not a single J6er tried in D.C. was found not guilty! 

Enough is enough! One of those arrested for just walking around the Capitol building, Matthew Perna, pled guilty to misdemeanor charges. He was later told the DOJ would seek enhancement terrorist charges at his sentencing which would raise his likely jail timve from 6-12 months to nine years! (source) He committed suicide. Justice? Not hardly! 

Trump is no savior, but he offers hope that our country will be safer and more fair. The targeting of political enemies, a characteristic of the Left, is over. 

As for peaceful pro-lifers who were often targets of early morning home invasions by heavily armed police, that's over. Not only were the two dozen pro-life prisoners freed, but, according to Monica Miller, there's more good news for rescuers:

Right in the middle of the March for Life I received word from our Thomas More Society attorneys that indeed the Federal DOJ Civil suit against Red Rose Rescue, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and 7 pro-lifers, including myself was dismissed!

Let's never stop praying for our country. I urge you to begin praying daily this entreatyto the Blessed Mother for the U.S. written by exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger:

Immaculate Mary, patroness of the United States of America. Queen of Heaven and earth, beneath whose sway are subject all things that are lower than God, sorrowful and mindful of our own sinfulness and the sins of our nation, we come to thee our refuge and hope, knowing that our country cannot be saved by our own works, and mindful of how much our nation has departed from the ways of thy Son, we humbly ask that thou wouldst turn thine eyes upon our country to bring about its conversion.

We consecrate to thee all of those governing our Republic, so that what is spiritually and morally best for the citizens of our nation may be accomplished, and that they would govern according to the spiritual and moral principles which will bring our nation into conformity with the teachings of thy Son. Bind any forces, spiritual or human, that would seek to inflict harm or evil on our country, or those who do good for our nation by their governance.

Give grace to the citizens of this land, so that they may merit leaders who will govern according to the Sacred Heart of thy Son, that His glory may be made manifest, lest we be given the leaders we deserve. Trusting in the providential care of God the Father and thy maternal care, we have perfect confidence that thou wilt take care of us and will not leave us forsaken.

O Mary Immaculate, pray for us.

I pray it daily. I hope you'll join me. 

6 comments:

  1. The pardon was overdue. Many were invited in and should never have been prosecuted. And some were just outside! Those who were to send in police, etc. refused to do so and so the people were set up.

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  2. Trump invited them to j6 with "be there, it will be wild!" He designed the j6 exercise as a sort of marchforlife-face , knowing his largely prolife base would think it natural (and the whole point!) to enter the Congress to lobby their congressman (not realizing there would be standby Proud Boys and other confounding elements in the crowd). So it is performative that he would rescue his own victims, to expiate his guilt. They should feel no gratitude for having been set up.

    As for the prolife rescuers, I would hope that their gratitude could not be bought so cheaply and that they will hold Trump fast to the promise of his gOp ("grand OLD party", before he raped its promise to abolish abortion in July), by which he approached his presidency three times.

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    1. I can always depend on you, rohrbachs to use loaded language like "rape" and to refuse to acknowledge anything good Trump has done. You don't fool me by posting Anonymously. In fact, you are encouraging me to go back to the practice of requiring even a fake moniker by banning anonymous comments. I'll think about that for awhile. But if you use the term "rape" again, I won't post your comment.

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    2. The original comment was from a device not logged into Google, as is this comment. There was no attempt to be covert, and you are free to ban anon comments.

      Merriam Webster's second definition for "r**e" is "an outrageous violation". And so, indeed, *was* the 7/15 DJT incursion on the virtuous abolition-promising gOp platform. And it is strange to hear vapors about language connected to the president who has *never* apologized for p***y.

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  3. I believe every single J6er deserved a pardon. The the judicial process was corrupted and a fair trial was impossible for these people whether they "did" anything or not.

    Certainly we all have read stories of clearly guilty defendants "getting off" because of a "technicality ". Those technicalities are our rights being upheld no matter how unsavory the individual.

    The righteous always have the greater burden. If there were truly criminal acts worthy of prosecution from Jan 6 then those specific cases should have been pursued by the letter of the law. But in their obsessive drive to paint Trump as an evil guy the government agents decided their beliefs out weighted the rule of law.

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  4. Its not enough to pardon them; Trump needs to put the prosecutors in Gitmo and put them through the same torture the Taliban prisoners were put through. Same with anyone who publicly supports illegal immigration or opposes tariffs.

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