Member-only story
President Biden Should Pardon the January 6th Insurrectionists
Hear me out: in doing so, he would deny Trump the satisfaction.
We know it’s coming: many of the January 6th insurrectionists are going to be pardoned by President-elect Trump soon after his inauguration.
At various times over the last few years, he’s referred to them as “hostages,” said they were convicted by “a very tough system” and said that he would free those being “wrongfully imprisoned.” He said “if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons.”
There’s little political downside in doing so for a one-term President at the start of his administration. Many in his base support it, and would laud him as a hero for doing so. And for anyone disgusted by the action, by the time 2028 rolls around, most people will have forgotten anyway.
But what if President Biden went ahead of him and pardoned all but the worst offenders before leaving office?
The Case for Biden Granting Pardons to January 6th Insurrectionists
We know that many (but certainly not all) of those convicted were caught up in a moment. They likely did not show up with the intention of storming the capitol, but rather to protest.
