Some defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack reacted to Donald Trump’s election victory with elation Wednesday, as their defense lawyers began taking steps to delay trials or sentencesin ongoing cases in anticipation of presidential pardons or more lenient treatment from a reshapedJustice Department.
Trump has made pardoning Jan. 6 defendants a signature campaign promise, though he did not raise the subject in his speech declaring victory Wednesdayin West Palm Beach, Florida. The president-elect also has not made clear who among the group of 1,500-plus people charged would receive pardons, though he has declined to rule out anyone, including members of extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Trump’s campaign has said he would decide “on a case-by-case basis when he is back in the White House.”In a statement regarding Trump’s own criminal prosecutions, campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, “The American people have reelected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again. It is now abundantly clear that Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system, so we can, as President Trump said in his historic speech last night, unify our country and work together for the betterment of our nation.”…