The Guardian Article Rating

Trump promised pardons for January 6 rioters in 'first hour' of his second term. What might this mean?

  • Bias Rating

    10% Center

  • Reliability

    75% ReliableGood

  • Policy Leaning

    10% Center

  • Politician Portrayal

    -39% Negative

Bias Score Analysis

The A.I. bias rating includes policy and politician portrayal leanings based on the author’s tone found in the article using machine learning. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral.

Sentiments

Overall Sentiment

-66% Negative

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Bias Meter

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

60% : At rallies, and at his Florida home as his return to power draws near, Trump has played a recording of January 6 prisoners singing the national anthem.
59% : "I'm going to look at everything," Trump said.
58% : Once, Trump would have agreed.
45% : "In other words, if Trump takes a selective approach, that's one thing, but if it appears to be a more blanket approach that really forgives all those that were involved in January 6, I think that would really undermine respect for the constitution and respect, frankly, for law and order."
40% : The question is whether the FBI and justice department will drop such investigations once Trump returns to power.
32% : But Trump did not pay for inciting January 6, escaping conviction in his Senate impeachment trial, and has long since changed his tune.
32% : "Did Trump mean he would not pardon those convicted of violent acts, notably the 591 rioters then convicted of violence towards police officers?"Well, we're going to look at each individual case," Trump said, "and we're going to do it very quickly, and it's going to start in the first hour that I get into office.
30% : Despite it all, some think Trump has signaled that not all such offenders should expect pardons or commutations.
30% : Trump could conceivably use the pardon power appropriately in January 6 cases, Panetta said, if any individual could be shown to have been "falsely accused or had problems" with their prosecution.
28% : "Also in December, Time magazine asked Trump if he had "decided yet whether you're going to pardon all of the January 6 defendants".
27% : But Trump is notoriously difficult to parse.
25% : "I'm going to do case-by-case," Trump said, "and if they were non-violent, I think they've been greatly punished.
22% : Some think that means Trump may not pardon those convicted of more serious charges, from assaulting police officers to seditious conspiracy.
21% : Trump claims he will not tell Bondi or Patel what to do.
21% : The former White House chief of staff, CIA director and secretary of defense was referring to the current president's decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden on multiple criminal charges - a move some said cleared the field for Trump to act with similar impunity - but also to speculation that Biden might preemptively pardon opponents of Trump now in danger of persecution, members of the House January 6 committee prominent among them.
20% : Observers raise alarm about how pardons for convicted Capitol attackers might weaken US criminal justice systemAs Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, politicians, legal observers and even sitting federal judges are expressing alarm about his stated intention to pardon or offer commutations to supporters who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 and were then convicted of crimes.
18% : On 7 January 2021, as the Capitol lay strewn with smashed glass and smeared with blood and feces, teargas lingering as troops stood guard, Trump faced historic disgrace.
14% : "I think this power of the pardon has become abused, not just by Trump but by Biden as well," Leon Panetta told the Guardian.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.

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