{"id":102009,"date":"2025-01-28T09:02:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T17:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/01\/28\/pardon-me\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:02:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T17:02:48","slug":"pardon-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/01\/28\/pardon-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Pardon Me"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Congress
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s think first about the Biden pardons; after that, the Trump pardons.<\/p>\n

I understand, if I don\u2019t necessarily agree with, President Biden\u2019s pardons of his son, Hunter; the January 6 Committee; and other Biden family members.<\/p>\n

When first asked, Biden shouldn\u2019t have flatly denied any intent to pardon Hunter; that makes Biden a liar. Biden should instead have said, before Hunter was convicted, that the elder Biden would reserve judgment on pardoning Hunter to see how the process played out. After Hunter was convicted, the president should have said, basically, \u201cI love my son. He\u2019s not dangerous or a threat to national security. I\u2019m the president. I\u2019m pardoning Hunter. I know that you may criticize me for this, but that\u2019s the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

That wouldn\u2019t have made the pardon any more correct, but I think Americans generally would have understood the sentiment.<\/p>\n

I also understand, if I don\u2019t necessarily agree with, the pardons of the January 6 Committee and the other Biden family members. None of these people had been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crimes. But all of these people had been personally threatened by Trump and folks associated with Trump.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit unusual (though not unprecedented; think of Jimmy Carter\u2019s pardon of Vietnam War draft dodgers) to pardon people who have not been convicted of anything. It\u2019s also a dangerous precedent to have presidents start pardoning their family members; I wouldn\u2019t like pardoning all the relatives to become routine at the end of every president\u2019s term. But I understand why Biden decided to do this. If Trump\u2019s going to threaten folks who have not been indicted or charged, then Biden\u2019s going to protect those people.<\/p>\n

(I\u2019m sure that I\u2019ll hear from some Trump loyalists that the \u201cBiden crime family\u201d is all guilty as sin. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve phrased the previous paragraphs carefully: Other than Hunter, none of Biden\u2019s relatives have been charged with, or convicted of, anything. That\u2019s indisputable.)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s think now about Trump\u2019s January 6 pardons. Again, I\u2019m certain to hear from Trump loyalists that all the January 6 rioters were members of antifa, FBI informants, or tourists simply visiting the Capitol Building. But remember what Republicans \u2014 Republicans \u2014 said about January 6 immediately after the event.\u00a0 The Atlantic<\/a><\/em> recently had an article collecting those contemporaneous Republican reactions. We all know that Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Kevin McCarthy blamed Trump on, or just after, January 6, 2021. But I\u2019m not sure I knew that Elise Stefanik, soon to be Trump\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, said, \u201cThe perpetrators of this un-American violence and destruction must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d Doug Burgum, soon to be Trump\u2019s Secretary of the Interior, said, \u201cThe violence happening at our nation\u2019s capital is reprehensible and does not represent American values, and needs to stop immediately.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019d forgotten completely that\u00a0Trump himself<\/a>\u00a0said shortly after January 6 that\u00a0\u201cthose who broke the law, you will pay,\u201d and Trump later vowed that \u201cthose who engaged in the attacks last week will be brought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

I guess Americans really do have the memory of a goldfish. But my argument starts from the premise that there was violence on January 6 and folks who engaged in that violence were appropriately tried and sentenced.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the excuse for Trump having given blanket pardons or commutations to people involved in the January 6 riot?<\/p>\n

That the rioters didn\u2019t do anything wrong? That\u2019s what Trump\u2019s saying now, but it\u2019s simply not true. And anyone who watched TV on January 6, or listened to Republicans at the time, knows that Trump and his supporters are now lying.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s OK for Trump to pardon the January 6 rioters because Biden issued some pardons?<\/p>\n

No. Biden\u2019s pardons were only marginally, if at all, misguided. Biden didn\u2019t release dangerous convicts. Trump, in contrast, gave wholesale pardons and commutations to nearly 1,600 people who had been charged, convicted, and sentenced.<\/p>\n

None of the folks convicted in the January 6 riots had committed violent crimes?<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Lawfare<\/a>, these are the statistics:<\/p>\n

\n

Of the total 1,583 arrested, according to the department\u2019s figures, 608 \u2014 or 38 percent \u2014 were charged with either assaulting or impeding federal police officers. Of those that assaulted officers, 174 were charged with an enhanced version of the crime for using deadly or dangerous weapons or for inflicting bodily harm on the officer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Some folks were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to keep President Trump in power and amassing weapons for that purpose. Sentences ranged up to 22 years. That ain\u2019t beanbag.<\/p>\n

Maybe folks sentenced to prison for their conduct on January 6 had already suffered enough?<\/p>\n

Not in the eyes of the judges, and sentencing guidelines, which said that some of these criminals should have spent much, much longer in prison than they did.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Black Lives Matter protestors weren\u2019t prosecuted, so the January 6 protestors shouldn\u2019t have been prosecuted either?<\/p>\n

Be serious. First, anyone who destroyed property or injured people in any protest should be prosecuted. Black Lives Matter, January 6 rioters, whoever. Get real.<\/p>\n

Second, at least some Black Lives Matter protestors were prosecuted. For example, prosecutors brought charges including arson, assault, and felony assault for the riot in Portland, Oregon.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, neither you nor I know exactly what happened in Portland (or, for that matter, at the Capitol Building). We don\u2019t know precisely how serious the violence was. We don\u2019t know who did what to whom. We don\u2019t know what prosecutions would have faced evidentiary problems at trial \u2014 although it\u2019s likely that there were more security cameras, broadcast television cameras, and personal iPhone cameras at the Capitol than in Portland, which probably aided the prosecutions of those who invaded the Capitol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe the January 6 rioters should escape punishment because you\u2019ve heard stories about some guy in Portland or Minneapolis who should have been prosecuted and wasn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

You have no clue if the story you heard was true. Even if it were true, what does the story tell us? People routinely argue that \u201cThere was a blizzard yesterday, so climate change is a hoax,\u201d or \u201cI heard about one time when a good guy with a gun caught an escaping criminal, so there\u2019s no need for gun control.\u201d If you think that these sorts of anecdotes constitute argumentation, you need a lesson in logic.<\/p>\n

Lastly, think of the timing of the pardons. Biden issued pardons as he left office, which is the usual way of doing these things. The president skulks out of office, no longer having to face the electorate, and he does some crappy stuff as he leaves.\u00a0 (Ask Bill Clinton about Marc Rich.) Those who were pardoned feel lucky, but they do not feel empowered to commit more crimes in the future. The criminals don\u2019t know if they\u2019d be pardoned again, by a different president, next time.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s pardons were different.<\/p>\n

By pardoning the January 6 rioters on his first day in office, Trump signaled to a bunch of his supporters, which included white supremacists and violent criminals, that they\u2019re safe for the next four years. So long as Trump is in office, folks don\u2019t have to worry about engaging in violence on behalf of him. (I\u2019m not sure that Trump will pardon folks for engaging in pro-Nazi protests; Trump doesn\u2019t care about the Nazis. But Trump will probably pardon you for engaging in pro-Trump protests; Trump cares about Trump.) Indeed, even the conservative Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u00a0recently noted that those Trump pardoned last week have been\u00a0reenergized by his decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Hunter Biden, Liz Cheney, and the others pardoned by Joe Biden pose serious threats to others.<\/p>\n

But those pardoned by Trump?\u00a0 The next four years will tell.<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Herrmann<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strateg<\/em><\/strong><\/a>y<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Pardon Me<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Congress
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s think first about the Biden pardons; after that, the Trump pardons.<\/p>\n

I understand, if I don\u2019t necessarily agree with, President Biden\u2019s pardons of his son, Hunter; the January 6 Committee; and other Biden family members.<\/p>\n

When first asked, Biden shouldn\u2019t have flatly denied any intent to pardon Hunter; that makes Biden a liar. Biden should instead have said, before Hunter was convicted, that the elder Biden would reserve judgment on pardoning Hunter to see how the process played out. After Hunter was convicted, the president should have said, basically, \u201cI love my son. He\u2019s not dangerous or a threat to national security. I\u2019m the president. I\u2019m pardoning Hunter. I know that you may criticize me for this, but that\u2019s the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

That wouldn\u2019t have made the pardon any more correct, but I think Americans generally would have understood the sentiment.<\/p>\n

I also understand, if I don\u2019t necessarily agree with, the pardons of the January 6 Committee and the other Biden family members. None of these people had been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crimes. But all of these people had been personally threatened by Trump and folks associated with Trump.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit unusual (though not unprecedented; think of Jimmy Carter\u2019s pardon of Vietnam War draft dodgers) to pardon people who have not been convicted of anything. It\u2019s also a dangerous precedent to have presidents start pardoning their family members; I wouldn\u2019t like pardoning all the relatives to become routine at the end of every president\u2019s term. But I understand why Biden decided to do this. If Trump\u2019s going to threaten folks who have not been indicted or charged, then Biden\u2019s going to protect those people.<\/p>\n

(I\u2019m sure that I\u2019ll hear from some Trump loyalists that the \u201cBiden crime family\u201d is all guilty as sin. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve phrased the previous paragraphs carefully: Other than Hunter, none of Biden\u2019s relatives have been charged with, or convicted of, anything. That\u2019s indisputable.)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s think now about Trump\u2019s January 6 pardons. Again, I\u2019m certain to hear from Trump loyalists that all the January 6 rioters were members of antifa, FBI informants, or tourists simply visiting the Capitol Building. But remember what Republicans \u2014 Republicans \u2014 said about January 6 immediately after the event.\u00a0 The Atlantic<\/a><\/em> recently had an article collecting those contemporaneous Republican reactions. We all know that Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Kevin McCarthy blamed Trump on, or just after, January 6, 2021. But I\u2019m not sure I knew that Elise Stefanik, soon to be Trump\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, said, \u201cThe perpetrators of this un-American violence and destruction must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d Doug Burgum, soon to be Trump\u2019s Secretary of the Interior, said, \u201cThe violence happening at our nation\u2019s capital is reprehensible and does not represent American values, and needs to stop immediately.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019d forgotten completely that\u00a0Trump himself<\/a>\u00a0said shortly after January 6 that\u00a0\u201cthose who broke the law, you will pay,\u201d and Trump later vowed that \u201cthose who engaged in the attacks last week will be brought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

I guess Americans really do have the memory of a goldfish. But my argument starts from the premise that there was violence on January 6 and folks who engaged in that violence were appropriately tried and sentenced.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the excuse for Trump having given blanket pardons or commutations to people involved in the January 6 riot?<\/p>\n

That the rioters didn\u2019t do anything wrong? That\u2019s what Trump\u2019s saying now, but it\u2019s simply not true. And anyone who watched TV on January 6, or listened to Republicans at the time, knows that Trump and his supporters are now lying.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s OK for Trump to pardon the January 6 rioters because Biden issued some pardons?<\/p>\n

No. Biden\u2019s pardons were only marginally, if at all, misguided. Biden didn\u2019t release dangerous convicts. Trump, in contrast, gave wholesale pardons and commutations to nearly 1,600 people who had been charged, convicted, and sentenced.<\/p>\n

None of the folks convicted in the January 6 riots had committed violent crimes?<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Lawfare<\/a>, these are the statistics:<\/p>\n

\n

Of the total 1,583 arrested, according to the department\u2019s figures, 608 \u2014 or 38 percent \u2014 were charged with either assaulting or impeding federal police officers. Of those that assaulted officers, 174 were charged with an enhanced version of the crime for using deadly or dangerous weapons or for inflicting bodily harm on the officer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Some folks were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to keep President Trump in power and amassing weapons for that purpose. Sentences ranged up to 22 years. That ain\u2019t beanbag.<\/p>\n

Maybe folks sentenced to prison for their conduct on January 6 had already suffered enough?<\/p>\n

Not in the eyes of the judges, and sentencing guidelines, which said that some of these criminals should have spent much, much longer in prison than they did.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Black Lives Matter protestors weren\u2019t prosecuted, so the January 6 protestors shouldn\u2019t have been prosecuted either?<\/p>\n

Be serious. First, anyone who destroyed property or injured people in any protest should be prosecuted. Black Lives Matter, January 6 rioters, whoever. Get real.<\/p>\n

Second, at least some Black Lives Matter protestors were prosecuted. For example, prosecutors brought charges including arson, assault, and felony assault for the riot in Portland, Oregon.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, neither you nor I know exactly what happened in Portland (or, for that matter, at the Capitol Building). We don\u2019t know precisely how serious the violence was. We don\u2019t know who did what to whom. We don\u2019t know what prosecutions would have faced evidentiary problems at trial \u2014 although it\u2019s likely that there were more security cameras, broadcast television cameras, and personal iPhone cameras at the Capitol than in Portland, which probably aided the prosecutions of those who invaded the Capitol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe the January 6 rioters should escape punishment because you\u2019ve heard stories about some guy in Portland or Minneapolis who should have been prosecuted and wasn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

You have no clue if the story you heard was true. Even if it were true, what does the story tell us? People routinely argue that \u201cThere was a blizzard yesterday, so climate change is a hoax,\u201d or \u201cI heard about one time when a good guy with a gun caught an escaping criminal, so there\u2019s no need for gun control.\u201d If you think that these sorts of anecdotes constitute argumentation, you need a lesson in logic.<\/p>\n

Lastly, think of the timing of the pardons. Biden issued pardons as he left office, which is the usual way of doing these things. The president skulks out of office, no longer having to face the electorate, and he does some crappy stuff as he leaves.\u00a0 (Ask Bill Clinton about Marc Rich.) Those who were pardoned feel lucky, but they do not feel empowered to commit more crimes in the future. The criminals don\u2019t know if they\u2019d be pardoned again, by a different president, next time.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s pardons were different.<\/p>\n

By pardoning the January 6 rioters on his first day in office, Trump signaled to a bunch of his supporters, which included white supremacists and violent criminals, that they\u2019re safe for the next four years. So long as Trump is in office, folks don\u2019t have to worry about engaging in violence on behalf of him. (I\u2019m not sure that Trump will pardon folks for engaging in pro-Nazi protests; Trump doesn\u2019t care about the Nazis. But Trump will probably pardon you for engaging in pro-Trump protests; Trump cares about Trump.) Indeed, even the conservative Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u00a0recently noted that those Trump pardoned last week have been\u00a0reenergized by his decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Hunter Biden, Liz Cheney, and the others pardoned by Joe Biden pose serious threats to others.<\/p>\n

But those pardoned by Trump?\u00a0 The next four years will tell.<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Herrmann<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strateg<\/em><\/strong><\/a>y<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[email\u00a0protected]<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images) Let\u2019s think first about the Biden pardons; after that, the Trump pardons. I understand, if I don\u2019t necessarily agree with, President Biden\u2019s pardons of his son, Hunter; the January 6 Committee; and other Biden family members. When first asked, Biden shouldn\u2019t have flatly denied any intent to pardon Hunter; that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":101965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-1294932124-sRgzV4.jpeg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}