Pardoning rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol four years ago can't erase the truth about what happened that day, the top federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C., said Tuesday as he prepares to leave office.
“There is no undoing these prosecutions,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves told The Associated Press. “The vindication of the rule of law is something that has already occurred. And no one can take that away.”
Graves helped lead the largest investigation in Justice Department history, overseeing hundreds of cases against people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His successor, whoever that will be, may preside over an abrupt end to that work.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to pardon Capitol rioters when he returns to the White House next week, but Graves said pardons can't undo “the record that was built through these prosecutions and the accountability that has already been imposed.”
“There will always be a public record of what occurred on January 6th, and people who care to know the facts will be able to find out the facts,” Graves said.
Graves, who has faced a torrent of online abuse and calls for retribution, said he has no plans to seek a pardon for himself before President Joe Biden leaves office.
“I don't even begin to know what I could possibly be pardoned for as a prosecutor," he added. “There is no crime here. There is just public servants doing their job and enforcing the law."
Graves, who took office in November 2021, plans to step down Thursday ahead of Trump's inauguration Monday. Trump has vowed to issue pardons to Capitol rioters on his first day back in the White House, repeatedly referring to them as “hostages” and “patriots."
More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related crimes. Nearly 1,300 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a judge or jury after trials. And over 1,000 riot defendants have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving a term of imprisonment ranging from several days to 22 years.
Only two Capitol riot defendants have been acquitted of all charges — in both cases by a judge after a bench trial..
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