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Judges increasingly alarmed as Trump’s Jan. 6 clemency decision nears

Politico
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U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan says she has often reassured police officers traumatized by the violence of Jan. 6, 2021 that “the rule of law still applies” But as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to retake the White House and pardon many of the perpetrators, she says, “I’m not sure I can do that very convincingly these days ” The judges are bracing for a turbulent start to the second Trump presidency.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth , a Ronald Reagan appointee to the bench, issued a 13 -page statement accompanying his sentence of a Jan. 6 misdemeanor defendant earlier this month .

He decried efforts by some defendants to “minimize” the toll of the riot or recast themselves as victims of a government intent on squelching their First Amendment rights.

But Chutkan granted permission to the third defendant, Eric Peterson , in a one -sentence order without explanation.