Judge Chutkan: Trump pardons won't change 'tragic truth' of Jan. 6 Capitol riot

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversaw President Trump's federal election subversion case, wrote in court filings that his sweeping pardons for those charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack could not change the “tragic truth” of that day.

Chutkan, who also presided over several Capitol riot cases, contended that federal judges in Washington administered justice "without fear or favor" over the last four years. She insisted that the historical record established by those cases must stand "unmoved by political winds, as a testament and as a warning."

Trump's pardons "cannot whitewash the blood, feces and terror that the mob left in its wake," she said. "And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America's sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power."

Chutkan's remarks came in an order to dismiss rioter John Banuelo's case after he was pardoned by Trump alongside more than 1,500 other Jan. 6 defendants. However, the judge declined to dismiss Banuelo's case with prejudice, leaving the door open for charges to be filed against him in the future.

She previously presided over Trump's federal case accusing him of attempting to subvert the 2020 presidential election results. Those charges were dropped in November following Trump's election victory, since the Justice Department policy bars prosecuting a sitting president.

“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind," special counsel Jack Smith wrote in his request to dismiss the case.

Chutkan's comments Wednesday came as other federal judges in Washington similarly refused to dismiss Capitol riot cases with prejudice -- meaning charges can't be brought again -- even as Trump's Justice Department asked they be closed in that manner following Trump's proclamation ordering the agency to do so.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama appointee, wrote in in court filings for Proud Boys Nicholas Ochs and Nicholas DeCarlo that dismissing their cases with prejudice would let stand the "revisionist myth" relayed in Trump's clemency action granting pardons to nearly all Jan. 6 defendants. Another judge, Clinton-appointee U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, dismissed rioter Vitali Gossjankowski’s case without prejudice but did not divulge his reasoning.

Trump, meanwhile, has defended his decision to bestow broad clemency on those charged in connection with the riot. In addition to pardoning nearly all rioters, he commuted the sentences of 14 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders to time served.

The proclamation showed little regard for the wide range of offenses among the defendants and has drawn criticism from even those within his party.

“These people have served years of jail, and their lives have been ruined,” Trump said Tuesday night. “They’ve served years in jail, and, if you look at the American public, the American public is tired of it.”

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