By Tyler Durden
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch TimesÂ
The Biden administration has pledged to continue to pursue and convict all people who broke the law in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incident, including those who never entered the building or who werenât even present at the U.S. Capitol that day.
Prosecutors have, to date, charged over 1,250 people with various crimes related to Jan. 6, ranging from being present on Capitol grounds without authorization, to assault of a police officer, to seditious conspiracy.
Former President Donald Trump has said on several occasions that he thinks Jan. 6 detainees are being mistreated by the Biden administration and has vowed to issue pardons for many of them.
President Trump rallied his base in Iowa on the eve of the Jan. 6 anniversary.
âThe J6 hostages, I call them. Nobody has been treated ever in history so badly as those people,â President Trump said at a rally in Iowa on the eve of the Jan. 6 anniversary, where he pledged to pardon a âlarge portionâ of imprisoned Jan. 6 defendants.
President Joe Biden, by contrast, last week celebrated the jailing of Jan. 6 defendants in a speech to mark the third anniversary of the Capitol breach.
âCollectively, to date, they have been sentenced to more than 840 years in prison,â he said.
âAnd what has Trump done? Instead of calling them âcriminals,â heâs called these … insurrectionists âpatriots.’ And he promised to pardon them if he returns to office,â he added.
âAll Jan. 6 Perpetratorsâ To Be Targeted
Off the campaign trail, the countryâs top prosecutor has made clear that the DOJ under President Biden has no intention of letting Jan. 6 participants off easyâincluding those who werenât even there that day.
âWe have initiated prosecutions and secured convictions across a wide range of criminal conduct on January 6, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack,â Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a speech on Friday.
Prosecutors have, to date, secured over 890 convictions in connection to the Jan. 6 incident, with Mr. Garland vowing to press ahead to cast the DOJ dragnet widely.
âOur work continues,â he said. âAs I said before, the Justice Department will hold all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the lawâwhether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.â
âWe are following the facts and the law, where they lead,â he added.
âProsecutorial Discretionâ
Nearly two-thirds of the 890-plus convicted Jan. 6 participants have received some time in prison.
The longest prison sentenceâ22 yearsâwas handed down to Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for allegedly plotting with others to forcibly prevent the transfer of power between then-President Trump and then-President-elect Joe Biden.
Dozens of Jan. 6 detainees are still languishing in jail awaiting trial three years after the Capitol incident.
Matt Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia who is leading the ongoing Jan. 6 prosecutions alongside special counsel Jack Smith, said last week that the DOJ had so far focused its prosecutorial efforts mostly on those who entered the Capitol or took part in violent acts in and around the building.
âWe have used our prosecutorial discretion to primarily focus on those who enter the building or those who engaged in violent or corrupt conduct on Capitol grounds,â Mr. Graves said.
âBut if a person knowingly entered a restricted area without authorization, they have already committed a federal crime,â he continued.
âMake no mistake, thousands of people occupied an area that they were not authorized to be present in,â he added.
In light of Mr. Garlandâs remarks that the DOJ would continue to hunt down âall Jan. 6 perpetratorsâ whether or not they were at the Capitol that day, Mr. Gravesâs statements reinforce the view that prosecutors intend to expand their dragnet to people who never entered the buildingâor werenât even there that day.
âCast Their Net Far Too Broadlyâ
But while the Biden administration seems intent on broadening its hunt of Jan. 6 suspects, a former attorney general said he thinks things have already gone too far.
Bill Barr, who served as attorney general under President Trump, told Fox News in a recent interview that he believes some people involved in the Jan. 6 incidentâlike those who attacked police and broke into the Capitol buildingâdeserve to be punished.
However, Mr. Barr said he believes the DOJ has already cast its Jan. 6 prosecutorial net too widely…
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