A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
It was almost four years ago that a mob of Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Federal authorities have charged more than 1,000 people in connection with the January 6 attack. And now Trump is headed back to the White House, after promising to pardon the people charged in connection with that attack.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas has covered the January 6 investigation. So Ryan, let's start with Trump and potential pardons. What has he said about clemency for Capitol rioters?
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Well, first off, for years, Trump has tried to rewrite the history of January 6. He talks about it as a peaceful day instead of what it actually was, which is a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters - an attack that injured more than 140 police officers who were defending the building that day. It was an attack that the FBI director, a Trump appointee, has called domestic terrorism. Trump, though, has called the people who are facing federal charges for January 6 - he's called them hostages. He's called them political prisoners. And over the past few years - including, very much so, during the 2024 campaign - Trump has promised pardons for January 6 rioters if he were to win back the presidency. He said that he would absolutely pardon them, and now he's headed back to the White House.
MARTÍNEZ: That federal investigation into the January 6 riots - where does that stand?
LUCAS: Well, look, this is a massive investigation, one of the largest in the history of the Justice Department. It started on the day of the riot, and it is still going on as of today. So far, more than 1,500 people have been charged. Almost 1,000 have pleaded guilty. Many of those are for misdemeanors, but a lot of them are also for violent offenses - things like assaulting police with a deadly weapon. Around 200 people have been convicted at trial. That includes members of two far-right extremist groups, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Ten members of those two groups have been convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy - in other words, of opposing the authority of the U.S. government by force.
MARTÍNEZ: I know the Justice Department is looking to wind down the special counsel's cases against Donald Trump now that he's now going to be president. Does that affect the DOJ's work against the Capitol rioters?
LUCAS: So the decision to unwind Special Counsel Jack Smith's cases against Trump - that stems from a Justice Department policy that says that a sitting president can't face indictment or trial. That policy does not apply to anyone else, full stop. That said, I did ask the Justice Department whether the potential for mass pardons of January 6 defendants has changed its approach to these cases. The department declined to comment on that. But I will say that prosecutors have been bringing new January 6 cases this week, so it does appear to be business as usual.
MARTÍNEZ: So the defendants, then - are they angling for pardons? I got to imagine that probably that's true.
LUCAS: They definitely are. They're certainly aware of Trump's promises for pardons, and they are angling for them. That goes for nonviolent offenders. It also goes, though, for folks convicted of attacking police and other serious charges. Stewart Rhodes is an example of this. He is the founder of the Oath Keepers group that I mentioned earlier. Rhodes was convicted by a jury in D.C. of seditious conspiracy and other crimes in connection with January 6. The judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison, called him an ongoing threat to the country and its democracy. Rhodes' trial is one that Trump kept a close eye on, I'm told. Now Rhodes' attorney, Lee Bright, tells our colleague Carrie Johnson that he's going to personally urge Trump to do the right and honorable thing and pardon Rhodes. I have asked the Trump campaign whether Trump would pardon rioters convicted of violent crimes or just nonviolent ones. The campaign did not respond.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thanks.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
