Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former member of the Jan. 6 committee, sought to distinguish between the pardon he received from former President Biden compared to those President Trump gave to those who stormed the Capitol.
Just hours apart, both Biden and Trump issued a number of pardons. An order from Biden gave a preemptive pardon to all nine members of the panel that investigated the attack on the Capitol, while Trump, through a series of pardons and commutations, cleared the slate for the more than 1,500 people being prosecuted for the attack.
“Look, the people who were pardoned the morning were pardoned because we were innocent, and Donald Trump was threatening [Former Rep.] Liz Cheney [(R-Wyo.)] and [Rep.] Bennie Thompson [(D-Miss.)] and others with fraudulent political prosecutions,” Raskin said during an appearance on CNN, referring to the former leaders of the Jan. 6 committee.
“The people who were just pardoned a little while ago, were pardoned because they were guilty of us violently assaulting police officers carrying dangerous weapons inside the Capitol, destroying federal property and so on, and it was just a mass pardon for all of them, without even looking to see whether those people were rehabilitated and Whether they continue to pose a threat to public safety.”
Raskin stressed that pardons are typically given to those who faced issues with their prosecutions, were given unusually harsh sentences, or have demonstrated remorse or reform during their time in prison.
“Why were they being pardoned? That’s my question. In other words, were they innocent? Nobody’s asserting that. Were they denied due process? No one’s asserting that. So are they reformed and rehabilitated and no longer a threat to democracy, no longer a threat to society?” Raskin asked.
“Or were they being pardoned simply because they were the willing political soldier for Donald Trump when he incited an insurrection against the government?”
