Durbin: January 6 Insurrectionists Should Have Never Been Pardoned By President Trump
In a Senate floor speech, Durbin denounced President Trump’s pardon of January 6 insurrectionists and provides update on continued criminal misconduct of pardoned Capitol rioters
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today spoke on the Senate floor, providing another update on the criminal misconduct of January 6th insurrectionists since President Trump’s reckless decision to pardon them for their crimes committed during the storming of the U.S. Capitol. The events of that day resulted in the death of five law enforcement officers and the injury of more than 140 others.
Durbin began his remarks by recalling his experience on January 6, 2021, as insurrectionists entered the building, interrupting the constitutional proceeding of certifying the 2020 election results.
“The Senate chamber was filled with members who were witnessing a meeting required by our Constitution where the Vice President presided over the Senate… We gathered here and counted the electoral votes to determine who was the President as a result of the 2020 election. It’s a fairly routine undertaking, but there is some solemnity to it because the Constitution requires it… It was the same day that President Trump, leaving the office because he lost that election in 2020, had called a rally down at the end of the [National] Mall. Thousands of people had showed up, and they decided to march on the Capitol at the President’s urging and invitation,” Durbin began.
“That’s a day I’ll never forget. I’ve been coming into this building since I was a college student at Georgetown years ago. This is a special place to me. It is not my office building. It is the United States Capitol. It carries with it, not only history, but a significance as a symbol. It means something to have a mob take over the Capitol as happened that day, pushing members of the House and Senate to hide in broom closets and to leave the building for their own personal safety. I never dreamed that would happen in the United States of America, but I lived it, it happened, and the American people know it happened because the videos are quite graphic. They tell the story of what was going on that day,” Durbin continued.
Following the January 6 insurrection, the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecuted more than 1,500 individuals for their involvement in the riot. However, on his first day in office, President Trump granted pardons and commutations for those who participated in the insurrection despite the horrific violence they inflicted upon law enforcement officers.
“So what happened when this new President came to office? He [President Trump] decided that isn’t what happened at all on January 6… He ignored the fact that 140 law enforcement officials were injured on that day protecting this building and the people in it… He decided the people who needed our sympathy were the rioters and not the police, and so the President, as one of his first acts in office, President Trump signed the pardon of some 1,600 individuals,” Durbin said.
Durbin continued his speech, describing the heinous acts committed by the insurrectionists since President Trump pardoned them.
“Last week, body camera video was released depicting a traffic-related felony arrest during which a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot former January 6 defendant Matthew Huttle... The video footage confirmed that there was a struggle during the incident, during which Huttle, a January 6 defendant, raised an object that the sheriff deputy believed to be a firearm. At the beginning of the traffic stop, Huttle can be seen on video stating, ‘I just want to let you know that I’m a January 6 defendant,’ and ‘I stormed the Capitol. I’m waiting on my pardon.’ Investigators later recovered a loaded 9 mm handgun and ammunition in Huttle’s vehicle. Huttle was among the 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol riot, pardoned by President Trump. Huttle had pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds for his role in the insurrection and was sentenced to six months in prison,” Durbin said.
“Peter Schwartz, sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges that included four counts of assaulting police officers during the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Schwartz was seen on body camera footage spraying officers with pepper spray, wielding a baton, and prosecutors alleged that he threw the first chair at officers, creating an opening that enabled hundreds of rioters to push back the police lines,” Durbin said. “Prior to January 6, Schwartz had amassed criminal convictions in more than four different states for crimes including domestic violence, threatening his girlfriend, and assaulting security officers. One of Schwartz’s former girlfriends, Shantelle Holeton, a 43-year old factory worker who has voted for President Trump three times… recently told CBS News that she fears for her safety now that Schwartz has been pardoned and released.”
Holeton reported that Schwartz persistently beat her during their months-long relationship until she called the police in July 2019, alleging that Schwartz was threatening to kill her and her son. In reacting to Schwartz’s involvement in the insurrection, Holeton stated, “He found an opportunity to go and be violent. That man thrives on violence. He thrives on people fearing him.”
Durbin then shared an update on Jeremy Brown, one of the last January 6 defendants remaining behind bars since President Trump’s blanket pardon.
“Jeremy Brown… was released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Atlanta on Wednesday. Brown had not yet been released because prosecutors did not consider one of his two criminal cases to be related to January 6 and thus covered by President Trump’s pardon; however, the Justice Department has since reversed course. In April of 2023, Brown was convicted in Tampa, Florida, of possessing a short-barrel rifle, a shotgun, and explosive grenades, and willful retention of a national defense document, all resulting from a January 6-related law enforcement search of his residence in September 2021. He was sentenced to 87 months in prison for those charges and released by the pardon of President Trump,” Durbin said.
Durbin concluded his remarks by firmly denouncing President Trump’s pardons.
“This is a horrible situation, and sadly, tragically, these are people who never should have been pardoned by the President. They attacked the police here in this building. They desecrated this Capitol. They were not the victims. They victimized innocent people who were doing their job under the Constitution,” Durbin concluded.
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available here for TV Stations.
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