A Jan. 6 prisoners advocacy organization is now preparing for the mass release of all incarcerated Jan. 6 defendants when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into the White House on Jan. 20.
Suzanne Monk, the founder of the J6 Pardon Project, said her group has been working with Mr. Trump’s transition team since November and has been told that Jan. 6 defendants will be granted clemency en masse on Day One of the new administration.
Ms. Monk’s organization and other pro-Jan. 6 groups are mobilizing supporters of Jan. 6 defendants to meet those who are released from prisons across the country to help them with clothing, food, transportation and to help contact their loved ones.
“This is such a massive undertaking that it’s just going to have to be done like we’ve done everything else in the J6 community, the J6 family is going to come together. We’re going to scoop everybody up, and we’re going to make sure what needs to get done gets done,” she said.
Mr. Trump has promised he would pardon Jan. 6 defendants who are sitting in prison. He recently said that the pardons he intended to issue may cover all those charged and convicted regardless of the type of offense.
“People that didn’t even walk into the building are in jail right now. So, we’ll be looking at the whole thing but I’ll be making major pardons,” Mr. Trump told reporters at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago last week.
The promise to pardon those involved in the Capitol riot drew sharp criticism from Democrats and other Trump opponents.
“It is shamefully, utterly outrageous that the president is considering pardons for these rioters who broke the law [and] attacked our police officers on Jan. 6,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. “Pardoning the criminals who assaulted police officers and tried to halt the Democratic process would be a dangerous endorsement of political violence.”
Ms. Monk works with Treniss Evans, of Condemned USA, a legal advocacy organization for Jan. 6 defendants, who has been a liaison between the Trump transition team and Ms. Monk’s group.
Mr. Evans reported to her that Mr. Trump plans to “clear the jails of J-Sixers” through commutations immediately after the inauguration. Pardons will be issued in the days thereafter.
“This is what they’re telling us, and it’s been confirmed by other individuals,” she said. “And just, logically, that makes a lot of sense that President Trump cannot in good conscience continue the incarceration and punishment of individuals who he is seeking to help and pardon,” Ms. Monk said.
“He does not want any of that under his administration. So, they intend to clear the jails with commutations first … and then allow the pardoning process to unfold in the necessary time frame after that.”
A riot broke out at the Capitol building and the surrounding complex on Jan. 6, 2021, with a pro-Trump mob breaching the Capitol to stop the certification of President Biden’s 2020 election win.
Over 1,500 people connected to the riot have been charged with crimes, and more than 1,000 pled guilty to either felonies or misdemeanors, according to the Justice Department.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.