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Mr. President, pardon Steve Baker and the nonviolent J6 defendants on day 1
Steve Baker’s trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, D.C., but anyone expecting high legal drama was left disappointed. After last week’s election, playing along with the farce would have been a waste of everyone’s time and taxpayers’ money.
In a fairer world, federal prosecutors would have pondered the recent headlines and taken a sensible step back. That’s what special counsel Jack Smith did with his crusade against Donald Trump, who, Lord willing, will take the oath of office again on January 20.
Do the right thing, Mr. President, and do it without delay.
“The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” Smith wrote last week. A district court judge readily agreed.
Baker’s attorney, William Shipley, filed a motion on Sunday to delay his trial and revisit the case in February, citing Smith and the Justice Department’s new stance.
“To deny this motion, in the face of the Justice Department’s official position,” Shipley argued, “would run contrary to the interests of justice and likely subject the defendant to criminal convictions for no purpose other than expediency.”
Judge Christopher Cooper on Monday denied the motion, the “interests of justice” be damned.
So Baker pled guilty Tuesday morning to all four misdemeanor counts against him. A trial would have been, in the words of one of his attorneys, “nothing more than a shaming exercise” in a court where the outcome is all but guaranteed.
Baker is scheduled to be sentenced on March 6 — two months after Congress is supposed to certify Donald Trump’s election. If that isn’t divine providence, nothing is.
Promises made ...
Trump made a great many promises during the campaign for the election, which he won by a landslide, including a vow to pardon the January 6 political prisoners. “Oh, absolutely, I would,” Trump said in July. “If they’re innocent, I would pardon them.”
Note the caveat if they are innocent. More than 1,500 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol protest, which devolved into a riot that left hundreds of police and protesters injured. Hundreds have been found guilty and sentenced. But not all the people who have faced criminal prosecution and prison time are angels or heroes. Some of them committed assault and vandalized property. They needed to be held accountable.
But the vast majority of the J6 cases involve nonviolent offenses, amounting to little more than trespassing. Note that not one person has been charged with insurrection for “the insurrection.”
Baker, a Blaze Media investigative journalist, was arrested in March and charged with the government’s four go-to misdemeanors: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building.
Last month, the government offered Baker a deal: plead guilty to “knowingly entering or remaining,” pay a hefty fine, and waive his right to appeal. He passed.
Why did the Justice Department wait three years to indict Baker anyway? He committed no violence. He didn’t fight with police or even argue with them. He was there as an independent journalist covering a story — along with anywhere from 80 to 100 other bloggers, writers, reporters, and videographers who similarly lacked official credentials. He walked through an open door into the building and calmly recorded the scene. Afterward, he wrote about what he heard and saw and cooperated fully with the FBI. He’s been perfectly transparent.
He's also been critical of the U.S. Capitol Police and the Justice Department’s response to the events of January 6 and the weaponization of law against political dissenters. Federal prosecutors had little to say to Baker before Blaze Media began publishing his investigations, which we’ve collected under “The Truth About January 6.” Maybe that had something to do with it.
Promises to keep
The full story of what happened on January 6, 2021, has yet to be told. The House of Representatives’ farcical one-sided select committee sought to cement a narrative in which a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol at the behest of the president and tried to steal the election by preventing Congress from certifying the electoral vote. It’s a tale so stupid only Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson could believe it.
Lingering questions nearly four years on lend themselves to conspiracy theories, which could be easily dispelled with a full and bipartisan accounting. Maybe we can get a better idea of how many federal agents were in the crowd. We might learn whether some of those agents were sent to be provocateurs or if they were on hand simply to observe and report. Perhaps with Donald Trump back in the White House and Republicans in control of the House and Senate, we might get some added sunlight.
But before the reckoning, the January 6 defendants need a resolution. Trump promised pardons and clemency, and he needs to deliver on day one. He would set the tone for the next two years, demonstrating with the stroke of a pen that this time will be different. The administrative state would be on notice that their days of abusing of power with impunity are over.
Pardon Steve Baker so he can continue his vital work. Pardon the nonviolent protesters and take a second look at the other cases, such as the Proud Boys’ and Oath Keepers’ “seditious conspiracy” trials. And, for the sake of their grieving families, posthumously pardon Matthew Perna, Nejourde “Jord” Meacham, Mark Aungst, and Christopher Georgia, all of whom committed suicide in the face of weaponized prosecution.
Do the right thing, Mr. President, and do it without delay.
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