Interesting report on interesting hearing over scope of Jan 6 pardons
This new Politico piece provides an effective review of a court hearing earlier today concernng the reach and scope of Prez Trump’s Jan 6 pardons. I recommend the full piece, and here are excerpts (with links from the original):
Three weeks ago, the Justice Department was emphatic: Donald Trump may have pardoned Kentuckian Dan Wilson for crimes he committed at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but that pardon did not extend to his unrelated conviction for illegally storing firearms at his home.
Then, on Tuesday, the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington reversed course, saying it had “received further clarity” about Trump’s true intent, which included pardoning Wilson for the gun case. Prosecutors did not explain how they arrived at this new “clarity.”…
During a two-hour hearing in her federal courtroom, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich — a Trump appointee — grilled a Justice Department attorney about the matter and appeared to leave with more questions than answers. And Wilson’s freedom is in the balance: He’s slated to report to prison unless Friedrich agrees to stop the sentence….
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Blackwell said the department’s understanding of Trump’s pardon had evolved in recent weeks — but she did not say how or why. She said this shift was the reason the Justice Department had moved in recent days to drop a slew of other cases against Jan. 6 defendants who were on the hook for other federal felonies….
The judge grew increasingly exasperated as she asked the Justice Department to explain “the president’s intent” when he issued the pardon. But Blackwell and Wilson’s attorney, George Pallas, told the judge she had virtually no role in interpreting the pardon at all. The Justice Department, acting on Trump’s behalf, would simply tell her what it means.
But Friedrich said she viewed it as her job to accept only a “reasonable” interpretation of Trump’s pardon, and given the justice Department’s shifting explanations, she had not yet decided whether to grant Wilson a reprieve from his five-year prison sentence.
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