The Attorney General’s Stand: Prosecutions, Pardons, and Protecting Democracy

Mr. Attorney General,
you’ve had this remarkably successful,
historic prosecution from the capital siege.
You had these grand juries indict 15 people.
Your jury trial record, I think,
is perfect. What do you make of this pledge in the election
to pardon everybody you’ve prosecuted?
Look, we’ve prosecuted people we believe, um,
are responsible for an attack on the capital and the threat to, uh,
the peaceful transfer of power.
Uh, the convictions indicate that both juries and judges
have agreed with our, uh, charges.
Um, pardons are another matter,
and I really don’t have anything to say about that question.
You’re sitting in these hearings with, um,
prosecutors and judges at the courthouse down the street.
They’re increasingly expressing concerns
about the upcoming transfer of power
and the potential danger of another.
Another January 6th. Do you share those concerns at all?
Um, I think our prosecutions have made clear what we think
about people who try to interfere
with the peaceful transfer of power,
which is essential and fundamental element of our democracy.
Equivalent about whether we have 15 or slightly less than 15,
but we have way more than 14 now. Prosecutions,
we have a substantial number of convictions.
I think that’s shown to everybody
how seriously we take an effort to interfere
with the peaceful transfer of power
the last January 6th, the coming January 6th,
and every January 6th after that.
I want to make clear to anybody who is thinking about interfering with
that they can see what We’ve done
with respect to the January 6th prosecutions
and Justice Department will continue to protect our democracy.