Federal judge grills Trump's Justice Department over argument that Jan. 6 pardon covers a separate gun case
Source: NBC News
Feb. 26, 2025, 6:07 PM EST
WASHINGTON — A Justice Department prosecutor struggled in court on Wednesday to articulate the administration's view of the full intention of President Donald Trump's mass pardon of Jan. 6 rioters, as the government argued that Trump's pardon should apply to separate criminal conduct committed by Capitol rioter Dan Wilson in Kentucky in 2023.
U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, a Trump appointee, questioned Justice Department attorney Jennifer Leigh Blackwell about the government's shifting position on the application of Trump’s Jan. 6 pardon.
Wilson pleaded guilty in May 2024 to three separate crimes: one charge of conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, for his conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; and two gun charges related to conduct in Kentucky in 2023, when his home was searched as part of the investigation into the Capitol riot.
Trump pardoned Wilson, along with more than 1,500 other Jan. 6 defendants, for the crimes they committed or were accused of during the Capitol riot. Wilson was then freed from prison — but the government told the court early this month that Wilson was "erroneously released," and Wilson had been ordered to return to Bureau of Prisons custody to finish serving out his sentence on the gun charges. The "plain language" of Trump's pardon, the government told the court, makes clear it "does not extend to those convictions."
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/federal-judge-grills-trumps-justice-department-argument-jan-6-pardon-c-rcna193830