Unlike his other vows, which can be stopped by Congress or courts, a president’s pardon power is virtually unlimited
Of all the promises that Donald Trump has made for a second term as president, he’s all but certain to fulfill one if he’s reelected: pardoning most, if not all, of the rioters who’ve been arrested, pleaded guilty or been convicted by judges or juries for their roles in besieging the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and injuring roughly 140 police defenders.
A president’s pardon power, however, is virtually unlimited, as the Supreme Court held in 1886. And Trump, though not alone among presidents in this, has abused that power before. He’s committed. Since his first 2024 campaign rally in Texas more than a year ago, Trump typically opens the events with a recording of the so-called J6 Prison Choir, made up of insurrectionist inmates at the D.C. jail, singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” over his taped recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Each time, Trump salutes and reiterates his pardon promise.
“If you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon!” he shouts in footage cited in the January 2021 affidavit for his arrest. In another he’s yelling, “This is the second revolution right here, folks! … This is not a peaceful protest.”Before he traveled to Washington, Nichols posted on Facebook that he would be “bringing the wrath of God, and there’s not a … thing you can do to stop it.” He arrived with another Texan and two firearms.
At his sentencing last week, Nichols apologized to “the victims of Jan. 6,” including members of Congress, police officers and D.C. residents, said he’d stay on his meds and was “no longer a danger to society.” The judge acknowledged the apology but said “the court has not had great success in determining the sincerity of Jan. 6 defendants.” Lamberth then slapped Nichols with prison time and the record fine.
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