President Donald Trump’s pardoning of all Jan. 6 Capitol protesters has prompted demands that he investigate the dragnet used by former President Joe Biden’s FBI and Justice Department to charge over 1,500 people.
“What’s needed next is for the new Department of Justice and congressional leadership to conduct investigations, hold the criminals who perpetrated this injustice accountable, and provide restitution to the victims,” said Matt Braynard, executive director of Look Ahead America, which sought to free rioters and draw attention to Ashli Babbitt, shot dead by a U.S. Capitol Police officer.
“I want to know who was behind this persecution,” added Brent Bozell, the founder of the Media Research Center and whose son was sentenced to 45 months for an ever-growing list of unlawful actions tied to his participation in the riots.
Trump had long promised pardons, and he delivered them on his first day in office. He was expected to start with about 900 nonviolent protesters but signed a mass clemency order that gave “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to all involved, including the few charged with violence.
His action had been called for by some of the new president’s most ardent supporters, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who told Secrets earlier, “My view is every single one of them needs to be pardoned and released. And you know when I always say this, compare it to antifa and BLM rioters and protesters. Over 95% of charges dropped, let these people out of prison, give them their lives back. It’s time. It’s been too much.”
While the move made many MAGA supporters happy, the clemency order further split those touched by the riots that day when Congress OK’d the Electoral College election of President Joe Biden over Trump after claims that he was robbed of reelection.
Some police and Democratic lawmakers said Trump went too far in freeing all protesters.
Some of those related to the convicted rioters said Trump and Congress should now go after the Justice Department, FBI, and lawmakers who pushed for harsh sentencing of any on the Capitol grounds that day.
The new Trump administration has arrived, with a real sense of purpose. For the past four years, the Biden administration has subjected America to a level of personal corruption, professional ineptitude and abuse of power unheard of in our nation’s history.
— Brent Bozell (@BrentBozell) January 21, 2025
President Trump…
Bozell’s son broke windowpanes at the Capitol and was initially prepared to plead guilty. But he then resisted after the Justice Department added more and more charges, which Bozell believes came because he and his conservative media watchdog group had been critical of Biden.
“I want to know who chose my son because he shares my name. I want to know who gave the orders to throw the book against him — including inventing heinous crimes — because I supported President Trump,” he wrote on X, adding, “I want them brought to justice. I want to see them in prison.”
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Braynard said he not only wants an investigation into the investigators but is also pushing for a national holiday to celebrate Jan. 6.
“We believe this assault on Americans must never be forgotten and are calling for the federal government to establish a national memorial and to designate a national holiday naming January 6th Patriot Day,” he told Secrets.