DC judges reluctantly OK dropping Jan. 6 cases after Trump clemency: No pardon can change the tragic truth of what happened

Three federal judges in Washington, DC, reluctantly dropped the cases of several Jan.6 rioters who were among the 1,500 protesters President Trump pardoned on his first day in office.“No pardon can change the tragic truth of what happened on January 6, 2021,” said Judge Tanya Chutkan in a ruling Wednesday dismissing the pending case against, John Banuelos.Chutkan — an appointee of former President Barack Obama — is the same judge who oversaw the 2020 election interference case against Trump, 78, before it was dropped by the feds when Trump was reelected.

Prosecutors moved for dismissal of the case against Trump since a sitting president receives absolute immunity from federal prosecution.“The dismissal of this case cannot undo the ‘rampage [that] left multiple people dead, injured more than 140 people, and inflicted millions of dollars in damage,'” Chutkan’s ruling reads.“It cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake.”The judge also acknowledged the dismissal couldn’t erase the peril and injury that the officers faced in bravely trying to quell the violent mob.Four Trump supporters died during the rioting and a Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, died of a stroke a day after the melee.

Four Capitol cops killed themselves after the riot.“And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America’s sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power,” read the sharp-worded two-page order, first reported by Law & Crime.Under the law, a president has “exclusive authority and absolute discretion” on whether to prosecute a case, so Chuktan and other judges handling the Jan.

6 cases must comply with the 47th president’s executive order pardoning the rioters.Two other judges in DC Wednesday similarly were forced to toss out cases against three other Jan.6 agitators — including two who pleaded guilty and one who was convicted during a bench trial.Judge Beryl Howell — also an Obama appointee — blasted ...