Donald Trump’s return to power means that hundreds of people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 will likely go unpunished.
The Justice Department has spent nearly four years trying to identify and prosecute virtually everyone who took part in the attack that threatened to derail the transition of power that day. But the nationwide manhunt, which prosecutors are calling the largest and most complex in American history, is expected to come to an abrupt end once Trump takes over.
The president-elect has long discredited the investigation as political persecution of his supporters and has sought to downplay the chaos and violence of the riot.
On Thursday, the Justice Department announced that it has charged more than 1,560 people with crimes related to the attack on the Capitol. But prosecutors estimate that as many as 2,500 people could be charged, and online sleuths who have become key partners for law enforcement have put the number closer to 3,000.
These people will likely never be charged by a Trump-controlled Justice Department, which is unlikely to prosecute new cases from January 6. The current leadership of the department now has a short period of two and a half months – before Trump’s inauguration – to indict any new suspects.
Trump’s rise could also unravel existing issues. He has pledged to pardon many of the defendants already charged or convicted for their involvement in the riot. It is unclear whether these pardons will extend to those who received the harshest sentences — such as former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy — or those who attacked police that day. But Trump has previously suggested he would consider pardons even for people who acted violently “if they are innocent.”
Even before Trump’s victory, prosecutors would have struggled to arrest every member of the mob that broke into the Capitol before the five-year statute of limitations — the legal deadline for filing charges — expires on January 6, 2026.
For now, the Justice Department appears poised to continue the steady number of arrests and indictments following Trump’s inauguration. Prosecutors this week charged a handful of mob members, including some who were indicted by a grand jury after Trump was deemed the winner of the election. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., which oversaw the Jan. 6 investigation, declined to say whether Trump’s return to power would lead to immediate changes in the office’s approach.
Trump aides did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump plans to quickly end the Jan. 6 investigation upon taking office, what his pardon criteria would be and whether he would ask the Justice Department to to stop the new January 6. -related arrests prior to his inauguration. But some defendants are urging Trump to act — and quickly.
“We need Trump to issue a statement recommending that @TheJusticeDept and the DC District Court judges hit the pause button on J6 cases,” defendant Stephen Baker wrote on X on Thursday. “@realDonaldTrump, send a signal to us that your campaign promise will be kept and that they are wasting their time.”
Another crime defendant, William Pope, posted: “If Merrick Garland’s DOJ continues to pursue retaliation against the J6ers until the inauguration, they know what to expect in return immediately after the inauguration.”
Despite the uncertainty, Trump’s election is already an ongoing issue on January 6. A handful of defendants filed court papers this week saying the prospect of a pardon from Trump would justify a delay in their trials or sentences.
“The suspect’s offenses do not involve violence and she has no criminal record. Therefore, she is a good candidate for clemency,” wrote lawyers for Anna Lichnowski, who was convicted of crimes earlier this year and is trying to avert her scheduled sentencing on Friday. “It would save money for both the judiciary and the government if the sentencing were continued until after the presidential inauguration so that the suspect could seek a presidential pardon.”
Another Jan. 6 defendant who will be sentenced Friday, Jaimee Avery, urged a judge to also postpone her hearing. Her lawyer said that convicting her after Trump’s election would create a “gross inequality” because “the man who played a crucial role in organizing and inciting the events of January 6 will now never face the consequences of his role.” in it.”
The Justice Department weighed in on the issue Thursday, opposing Lichnowski’s request for a delay under a possible pardon policy.
“There is a public interest in the prompt and efficient administration of justice,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jake Struebing wrote in a one-page response. “The government and the Court have tried to realize that interest. The government does not agree that a continuation is warranted here, and the Court should proceed as it would in any other prosecution.
The judge in the case, George W. Bush appointee Reggie Walton, rejected Lichnowski’s request Thursday afternoon, writing: “The possible future exercise of discretionary pardon power … is not relevant to the court’s obligation to uphold the legal responsibilities of the judiciary to be carried out.”
