Trump's Pardon Promise for Jan. 6 Rioters - WSJ Editorial
President Trump can’t change what happened four years ago on Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an impossible effort to undo his 2020 election loss. Soon, though, Mr. Trump will get the power to extricate the riot’s participants from the legal consequences of their actions. How far will he go? “A vast majority should not be in jail,” he said recently.
Scanning the latest case activity, what jumps out isn’t sympathetic characters. On Dec. 20 a prison sentence of 48 months was given to 31-year-old Joshua Lee Atwood, who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement. He emptied a can of pepper spray at police, beat them with a pole, and pelted them with objects such as a “metal scaffolding pipe.” He yelled that the cops were “pieces of s—” and “betraying your country.” The prosecution’s sentencing memo says his criminal history includes a pending felony case for an alleged 2023 stabbing.
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Also in December: A 24-year-old man got nine months for having thrown an “equipment container lid” that beaned a cop, causing momentary loss of consciousness and a suspected concussion. A 41-year-old man, who wore body armor on Jan. 6, pleaded guilty to scuffling with police, including trying to seize an officer’s baton while shouting, “Come out here b—.” Other active cases include accusations of ramming the police line, punching cops, and walloping riot shields with a baseball bat.
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On Dec. 6 a prison sentence of 12 months was given to Philip Sean Grillo, 50, for a jury conviction of four misdemeanors. He isn’t accused of specific violence, but he was at the Capitol early with a bullhorn, yelling, “Charge!” He climbed into the building through a broken window and was part of a group that pushed past police to open doors for others.
Sentencing him was Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee. “Having read dozens of indictments related to January 6,” he wrote, “I can say confidently: nobody has been prosecuted for protected First Amendment activity. Nobody is being held hostage. Nobody has been made a prisoner of conscience. Every rioter is in the situation he or she is in because he or she broke the law, and for no other reason.” As Mr. Grillo was preparing to be led off by U.S. Marshals, CNN reports he shouted a final word: “Trump’s gonna pardon me anyways.”
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