President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon all those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, unrest at the U.S. Capitol has been a source of endless controversy and debate, drawing the particular ire of Democrats, and additional clemency moves made by the administration late last week may add fuel to that fire.
As the Daily Mail reports, Trump granted a second pardon on Friday to Dan Wilson, a man who received a prior grant of clemency for his presence at the infamous Jan. 6 protest, clearing his record again in a felony firearm case.
Trump had already pardoned Wilson earlier in the year for his role in the Jan. 6 demonstration, but he remained incarcerated due to gun crimes discovered back in 2022, offenses to which he pleaded guilty.
It was during a probe of the Kentucky man’s involvement in the Jan. 6 unrest that authorities found six weapons and approximately 4,800 rounds of ammunition at his residence, possession of which was rendered unlawful by his past felony convictions, as NPR explains.
After a court battle related to whether the Jan. 6 pardon rightly encompassed the firearms conviction, the White House ultimately contended that the discovery of the guns and ammunition would never have happened absent the raid on Wilson’s home, which stemmed from his involvement in the D.C. protest.
“Because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of Jan. 6, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson for the firearm issues,” a White House statement declared.
Wilson had been destined to remain in prison until 2028, but Friday’s pardon resulted in his immediate release, with his attorney stating that his client “can now reunite with his family and begin rebuilding his life.”
Wilson was not the only Jan. 6-related pardon issued by Trump last week, with Suzanne Ellen Kaye of Florida also receiving the nod, as NPR further notes.
Kaye had spent a year and a half in prison as a result of social media threats against federal agents who visited her home in 2021 to probe what they thought was her involvement in the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol, as the Miami Herald explained.
Having suggested on social media that she would shoot any agent who arrived at her home, Kaye later testified at trial that she did not actually own any guns and did not intend to threaten federal officials.
She also stated that she was not even present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and she was never charged with any crimes related to the events of that day.
In discussing Kaye’s pardon, an unnamed White House official stated that she suffers from “stress-induced seizures” and that her case was one “of disfavored First Amendment political speech being prosecuted and an excessive sentence.”
There has been no shortage of debate regarding Trump’s decision to grant sweeping pardons to those involved in the Jan. 6 unrest, particularly in cases of individuals accused of engaging in physical violence on that day and also in those involving largely unrelated -- yet incidentally discovered -- offenses.
Even so, the administration is standing firm in its decisions, with Edward Martin, special pardon attorney at the Justice Department, stating emphatically on X that “President Trump is unwinding the damage done by Biden’s DOJ weaponization, so the healing can begin.”
