On 4th anniversary of Capitol riot, Jan. 6 defendants hopeful for pardons from Trump

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : Issuing pardons on such a large scale would be extraordinary, and might have political implications that Trump and his advisers would likely take into account, Tushnet said.
60% : "Twenty minutes of my life has kind of resulted in four years of hell.
59% : "I believe that President Trump will follow through with his promise to pardon the January 6th defendants," Todd's attorney, John Pierce -- who has represented more than 50 Jan. 6 defendants -- told The Star.
57% : "With Trump, everything is about spectacle," he said.
57% : He entered the Rotunda about a minute later, took photos on his cellphone, was ushered out of the area by officers around 3:07 p.m. and exited the building about 3:11 p.m.Peterson's sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 27, although his attorney said it would likely be rendered moot if Trump follows through with his pledge to pardon Jan. 6 defendants.
55% : I think relief is coming for defendants, and I think my case is going to end in the near future.
54% : "Don Haider-Markel, a University of Kansas political science professor and expert on extremism, said Trump has a variety of options available.
54% : "Apart from being reasonable on their face, these two modification requests are even more appropriate in light of the incoming Trump administration's confirmations that President Trump will fully pardon those in Mr. Peterson's position on his first day in office on January 20, 2025," the motion said.
49% : "We're looking at it right now -- most likely, yeah," Trump told moderator Kristen Welker in a Dec. 8 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked if he planned to pardon those who charged the Capitol.
46% : "Pope contends that he was "entirely peaceful on January 6.""This really did crush my life," he said.
45% : Those videos, he said, could aid Trump in his decision on whom to pardon.
41% : "Trump added the pardons would be determined on a case-by-case basis and that "there may be some exceptions."
40% : Throughout his campaign, Trump pledged to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he has referred to as "hostages," "patriots" and "political prisoners."
34% : Five Missouri defendants remain in prison and could be among those under consideration for pardon by Trump.
33% : He originally was charged with two felonies and six misdemeanors, but one felony and two misdemeanors were dismissed last year and he succeeded in getting his trial moved until after Trump takes office.
29% : Trump himself was indicted on four felony counts in August 2023 for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results, including an attempt to obstruct Congress' certification of votes on Jan. 6.
29% : Once Trump was elected president, however, special counsel Jack Smith moved to drop the case against him because of the Justice Department's longstanding policy that a sitting president can't face criminal prosecution.
23% : Four years after thousands of Trump supporters stormed the nation's Capitol in protest of what they claimed was a stolen presidential election -- triggering what the Justice Department calls "the largest investigation in DOJ history" -- the fate of many of the nearly 1,600 charged in the riot could lie in the president-elect's hands.
9% : While a blanket pardon of all defendants would be a thorny issue, Pope said, if Trump can prove that there was government misconduct involving the riot, he could use that as justification to drop the charges on everyone.

*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.