Just hours after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, a January 6 rioter lined up for his pardon.
Christopher Carnell, who was charged and convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding earlier this year, asked Judge Beryl Howell to delay a hearing that was set to occur on Friday so lawyers could contact the presidential transition team.
“As of today, Mr. Carnell is now awaiting further information from the Office of the President-elect regarding the timing and expected cope of clemency actions relevant to his case,” lawyers for Carnell wrote in a filing on Wednesday morning.
Throughout his campaign, Trump has promised to pardon all Jan 6 rioters charged with crimes in connection to the attack on the Capitol.
It was the former president’s incendiary rhetoric leading up to and after the 2020 presidential election that inspired thousands of angry Trump supporters to storm the Capitol the day Congress was set to certify election results.
Many rioters believed the 2020 election was riddled with election fraud and that it was “stolen” from the former president due to Trump’s claims. Multiple independent investigations have found those claims are false and there is no evidence of mass voter fraud in any recent election.
As a result, more than 1,300 individuals have been charged with crimes related to the attack.
Cases involving obstruction of an official proceeding, like Carnell’s, are currently in appeals and retrial processes because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the government must prove accused individuals physically impaired documents used in an official proceeding.
But despite Carnell’s best efforts to move the hearing to benefit from Trump’s promised pardons, Judge Howell denied the request.
Similarly, Anna Lichnowski, another person convicted of a misdemeanor for her role in storming the Capitol, was denied the opportunity to move her sentencing date in the hopes of getting a presidential pardon.
Lichnowski’s lawyers asked a judge to delay her sentencing, set for November 8, to “save both judicial and government resources” in the event Trump pardons her.
The judge denied her request, saying any future use of presidential pardons is “irrelevant” to a court’s obligation to carry out its responsibilities.
It is unclear if Trump could even pardon Jan 6 rioters. Even presidential pardons are subject to some limitations like those that violate core constitutional principles.
However, it is expected that more rioters will request presidential pardons from Trump now he has won a second term.
