William Pope:

and I hope they stimulate a deeper level of discussion and better solutions moving forward. Ultimately, only President Trump can decide how his administration handles the January 6 cases, and he will be considering these issues from a different perspective than anyone else. In this article, I try to surface factors President Trump might take into account, but I realize that he may weigh those factors differently than I would. Even though there are many ways to approach this issue, I am confident that whatever President Trump decides will bring January 6 defendants relief.

However, after his trial it was discovered that the DOJ had engaged in outrageous conduct that violated Stevens’ civil rights. Because of that, Attorney General Holder moved to vacate Stevens’ sentencing date and dismiss the indictment. Judge Emmett Sullivan—a D.C. judge who has also presided in January 6 cases—found that the prosecution had been “permeated by the systemic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence” and granted the dismissal. The end result was that Ted Stevens was exonerated, but at the cost of his senate seat.

Compare that outcome to the recent Hunter Biden pardon. Hunter pleaded guilty to avoid a damaging trial, but he had not yet been sentenced when his father pardoned him. Essentially, Hunter was in the same pre-sentencing stage that Senator Stevens had been in when his case was dismissed. Judge Scarsi vacated Hunter Biden’s sentencing date and dismissed the case because a pardon had been issued, but Judge Scarsi declined to dismiss the indictment containing the underlying criminal allegations against Hunter.

Here we have to contrast two possible paths: pardons vs. exoneration in court. Depending on the path taken, the allegations against a defendant will either be dismissed, or the allegations will remain. If January 6 defendants receive a pardon from President Trump, any defendants who have already pleaded or gone to trial will have the same legal outcome as Hunter Biden: charges will be forgiven, but the allegations will remain. However, if Trump instead grants a temporary reprieve in all cases, the Trump Administration can then evaluate whether January 6 defendant civil rights were violated, which could justify convictions being vacated and indictments being dismissed.