President Donald Trump pardons around 1,500 Jan. 6 attack defendants
On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump pardoned about 1,500 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol.
Reuters
Some pardoned Jan. 6, 2021 defendants should be reimbursed for the restitution they paid for Capitol repairs, the Department of Justice said in a court filing Tuesday.
The filing is before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is weighing former defendant Stacy Hager’s request to be repaid the $500 in restitution he sent to the Architect of the Capitol after his conviction on misdemeanor charges. Hager made the request in February.
“The government agrees that Hager is entitled to the return of those funds,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Dreher wrote in the filing.
Presidential pardon
President Donald Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people on his first day in office, keeping a campaign promise to release people charged in the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021.
Following Trump’s decision, appeals courts halted all proceedings and “vacated” convictions, essentially erasing them.
Dreher said that Hager, from Waco, Texas, should be reimbursed because the case was actively being appealed when Trump issued his clemency. Pardoned defendants who did not have active appeals are not entitled to reimbursement because their convictions remain on the books, the Justice Department argued in the filing.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Capitol repairs
Most defendants convicted for the Capitol insurrection were required to pay restitution to the Architect of the Capitol, who maintains the building and grounds, to help cover the costs of repairing the estimated $3 million in damage. Those convicted of felonies typically paid $2,000 and those convicted of misdemeanors typically paid $500.
Work to repair the Capitol began shortly after the attack and it is unclear whether any of the restitution is left, or where it would come from if Chutkan rules that Hager or others must be reimbursed.
The Architect of the Capitol did not immediately respond to a request for comment.