Investigation of the Capitol Injuries on Jan. 6, 2021: Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Case against the 2020 U.S. Senate Major General Election

The pardons largely undo the results of one of the most complicated investigations in the history of the Justice Department. Prosecutors and FBI agents there spent years probing the actions of people at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6, using photos, video and telephone location data to help identify potential suspects.

The attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which injured more than 140 police officers, was one of the largest-ever mass attacks on law enforcement officers. Police defended the Capitol in Washington, D.C., despite getting sprayed with harsher chemicals or beaten with flagpoles if they didn’t stop.

The stories of Jan. 6 defendants were frequently featured by Trump on the campaign trail. Loudspeakers at Trump rallies blared a version of the national anthem sung by a choir of incarcerated rioters.

Federal judges in Washington, where the courthouse cafeteria boasts a view of the Capitol dome and the scene of the crime, generally imposed lighter punishments than the DOJ had requested in hundreds of Jan. 6 cases. Trump and his associates claimed that the rioters had been unfairly targeted for prosecution, so they pushed back hard in their courtrooms.

The investigation became a priority for former Attorney General Merrick Garland, who told NPR a year after the attack on the Capitol that “every FBI office, almost every U.S. attorney’s office in the country is working on this matter. We’ve examined thousands of electronic devices, examined terabytes of data, and issued thousands of subpoenas.

But the Justice Department’s case against Trump, for allegedly conspiring to cling to power and deprive millions of Americans of the right to have their votes count in 2020, ended with a whimper.

Special counsel Jack Smith secured a four-count felony indictment of Trump but said he was forced to abandon the case after Trump won the 2024 election, based on a longstanding DOJ view that a sitting president cannot be charged or face trial.

The pardons should not be seen as an admission of guilt for any offense, nor as an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, said Biden in his statement.

Biden said the preemptive pardons were needed because of threats of “unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions” by the incoming administration.

The December 6, 2016 Capitol Pardon as an Instrument to Investigate the Decree of the President’s Senator’s Special Representative, Pam Bondi,

The incoming Trump administration may or may not want to prosecute the individuals. Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, said last week during her confirmation hearing that there wouldn’t be political prosecutions on her watch. The nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, has called for the investigation or prosecution of many of Trump’s opponents.

The U.S. was at the forefront of the response to COVID-19. He was an infectious disease specialist at the National Institute of Health, but he was accused of covering up the real causes of COVID by his allies. Trump called Fauci a “disaster” and Fauci has been investigated by congressional Republicans.

In a statement, Fauci said, “Throughout my career, I have been motivated by one simple goal: to improve the health and lives of humankind,” noting that he served under presidents of both parties from Ronald Reagan to President Biden.

“I believe and hope that my legacy is that of a dedicated and accomplished physician/scientist and public health official who, with the help of many teams of skilled and distinguished colleagues, saved millions of lives in the United States and around the world,” Fauci said.

In Bob Woodward’s book “Fear,” Milley called Trump a fascist and was chairman of the Joint chiefs of staff during Trump’s first term. He has stated that he should be executed.

“Rather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecutions,” Biden said.

Staffers for the House select Jan. 6 committee were “surprised” by the news of the pardon. A congressional aide said they were sorting whether they needed to accept the pardon or how the process worked. There was plenty of confusion since the announcement didn’t include names or specifics of what the pardon covered. A staffer was relieved that the Trump administration didn’t target the committee’s staff, according to an aide who was authorized to speak on the record.

In the end, it appears the panel’s final report. Dozens of staffers will be covered by pardons. More than 50 were listed in the preliminary section of the panel’s final report. It was also unclear if the pardons covered consultants and contractors also listed in the report.