Federal Judge Says Trump’s Pardons Can’t Erase ‘immutable’ Truth Of Jan. 6

A federal judge sounded off Wednesday about President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon and dismiss charges against virtually all defendants who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, saying the “immutable” record of the violence and heroism of law enforcement that day will remain enshrined in court records.

“Dismissal of charges, pardons after convictions, and commutations of sentences will not change the truth of what happened on January 6, 2021,” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a six-page order dismissing charges against Dominic Box, whom she had previously convicted of two felony counts for his role in the riot.

“What occurred that day is preserved for the future through thousands of contemporaneous videos, transcripts of trials, jury verdicts, and judicial opinions analyzing and recounting the evidence through a neutral lens,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “Those records are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies.”

The judge, a Clinton appointee to the federal bench, is the first to speak out after Trump’s sweeping clemency and dismissals of more than 1,500 Jan. 6 cases, including hundreds of pending charges of assault on police officers. Judges have been steadily processing the dismissals of hundreds of pending cases since Monday evening, when Trump signed his clemency proclamation.

But none of them had offered any public commentary on the matter yet, despite having warned repeatedly prior to Trump’s inauguration that they were fearful of attempts by the president and his allies to bury the truth about Jan. 6.

Kollar-Kotelly said the “heroism of each officer who responded” could also not be erased.

“Grossly outnumbered, those law enforcement officers acted valiantly to protect the Members of Congress, their staff, the Vice President and his family, the integrity of the Capitol grounds, and the Capitol Building — our symbol of liberty and a symbol of democratic rule around the world,” she wrote. “For hours, those officers were aggressively confronted and violently assaulted. More than 140 officers were injured. Others tragically passed away as a result of the events of that day. But law enforcement did not falter. Standing with bear spray streaming down their faces, those officers carried out their duty to protect.”

“All of what I have described has been recorded for posterity, “ the judge concluded, “ensuring that what transpired on January 6, 2021 can be judged accurately in the future.”