A January 6 rioter has been allowed by a judge to travel to Washington D.C. and attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. Concretely, judge Tanya S. Chutkan granted Eric Lee Peterson's motion to modify the condition of his legal situation and is now also allowed to travel "within the entirety of the Kansas City Metropolitan area."
The development comes as January 6 rioters facing legal proceedings hope for leniency once Trump takes office.
JUST IN: Judge Chutkan permits a Jan. 6 defendant to attend Trump's inauguration.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 19, 2024
Notably, this is the only one of three who have made similar requests that DOJ has not opposed. pic.twitter.com/XOC0LFBZRB
Over 1,500 rioters have been charged in federal court. Most of them have been convicted or admitted their guilty. About half have received jail time and many have already served their sentences. The Justice Department is still trying to identify some seen in footage of the fateful day.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to pardon the rioters, but recent statements have sowed doubts about whether all of them will be reached by such a decision.
Defense attorneys are reportedly scrambling to get clarify on the matter, especially after Trump told Time Magazine that he would look at rioters' cases individually. "If they were non-violent, I think they've been greatly punished," he said during the interview for the issue in which he was named "Person of the Year." "I'm going to look if there's some that really were out of control." However, he also said the pardons would "start in the first hour that I get into office."
In another interview, Trump seemed to suggest most would be pardoned and that there would be exceptions if "somebody was radical, crazy." "Those people have suffered long and hard. And there may be some exceptions to it. I have to look," he told NBC News.
It is unclear what the criteria would be to determine who is deserving of a pardon and who isn't. One option is a blanket pardon to people charged with certain crimes, omitting other, more violent ones, according to the outlet.
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