Trump’s blanket pardons offer hope and healing

Processing the events and emotions of the past week has taken time. BlazeTV documented my immediate reaction to President Trump’s sweeping pardons, commutations, and case dismissals. In a five-minute video recorded right after I learned Trump kept his promise, I struggled through tears and jumbled words to share my thoughts.

Over the past few days, I’ve come to terms with the reality of my January 6 case being “dismissed with prejudice.” I’ve also absorbed the reactions of other “J6ers,” whose own legal battles ended last Monday, as well as the responses from media pundits and politicians. As expected, reactions range from positive to negative. (I’ll delve deeper into this in a future piece.)

While Blaze Media and BlazeTV have covered my January 6 journey at length, a quick recap might be helpful for those unfamiliar with my story.

What I did and didn’t do

I traveled to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, intending only to cover the final rally of Trump’s first presidency. I brought my camera, tripod, a microphone for street interviews, and extra batteries to capture reactions to the speeches scheduled for the day. My primary question was whether the so-called kraken would be unleashed — the final proof of an allegedly “stolen election.”

When it became clear that no such announcement would come from the speechmakers, including President Trump, a colleague and I began a mile-long walk to the Capitol building. Additional speeches were planned on the Capitol lawn at six separate, legally permitted “First Amendment Protest” events.

By the time we reached the west side of the Capitol’s outer perimeter, at about 1:15 p.m., there were no barricades or “Closed Area” signs — something I later learned had been breached and removed before our arrival. Hearing sirens, seeing smoke, and witnessing flash-bang grenades, we sprinted to the Lower West Terrace. There, at exactly 1:19 p.m., I turned on my camera and began documenting the events that would alter my life.

I followed the story wherever it led. An hour later, I was inside the Capitol building with thousands of protesters and around 80 other journalists and media personnel. I exited 37 minutes later through the Hall of Columns and out the south doorway. During that time, I committed no acts of violence, resisted no law enforcement, and caused no damage to Capitol property.

Media and news organizations worldwide quickly licensed my videos, which were featured in documentaries by HBO, the New York Times, the Epoch Times, and numerous others. I began writing accounts of that day and delved into investigations of the key figures and most puzzling anomalies related to January 6.

In July 2021, the FBI contacted me to request a voluntary interview. Because of my recognized status as “media,” the FBI needed written approval from the U.S. Attorney General’s Office. After my attorney negotiated and secured this agreement, I participated in the interview in October of that year. On November 17, 2021, my attorney received an email from Assistant U.S. Attorney Anita Eve, stating, “Your client will be charged within the week.”

To my shock — and admittedly, some amusement — the charges included a felony count of “interstate racketeering.” The Department of Justice alleged that I knowingly conspired to cross state lines (from North Carolina) with foreknowledge of an illegal event to profit from documenting and licensing footage of the activities.

Going public

On the Monday of Thanksgiving week in 2021, we sent a press release to over 200 media outlets, launching a public counteroffensive against the government’s absurd allegation. I did dozens of interviews with various news outlets, including newspapers, magazines, TV shows, podcasters, and bloggers.

This strategy caught the government off guard. No other individual accused of a January 6 crime had taken such an approach. The result? The government went silent for 20 months — no response, no action. During this period, my coverage of the January 6 trials and investigations into the conduct of certain U.S. Capitol Police officers gained attention from members of Congress and major media platforms, including Tucker Carlson.

Sources within the Capitol Police and the Justice Department informed me that officials were “not happy” with my reporting. In the spring of 2023, I was granted access to 41,000 hours of Capitol closed-circuit TV footage — all while I continued working independently, unaffiliated with any news organization.

For nearly 1,600 January 6 defendants, the government went too far. It repeatedly trampled due process, destroyed lives over misdemeanors, and handed down egregiously unfair sentences.

In early July 2023, Matthew Peterson, the new editor in chief of Blaze Media, reached out to discuss bringing my work to the publication as a contributor. In the final week of July, before we finalized my contract, my attorney informed me that a D.C. grand jury had subpoenaed all my January 6 videos.

Grand juries are not convened for misdemeanor offenses, so they were obviously looking for a reason to charge me with a felony. Twenty months after going silent, with growing national attention to my work as an independent journalist, I had become confident that the government had decided not to pursue charges against me.

I was devastated by this news. Not only because of the renewed legal jeopardy, but I was certain that Blaze Media would withdraw the offer. You know the drill.

“Hey, Steve. We really love your work, man. And when you get all this legal stuff behind you, call us back, and we may have a place for you here.”

I sat on this news over the weekend, not informing Peterson at Blaze Media. My attorney picked up the subpoena on Monday morning, confirming my worst fears. I then posted to Twitter that I was back in the government’s crosshairs.

My phone rang. It was Peterson. I assumed this was the bad-news call I expected. Peterson nervously laughed and said, “Uh … it looks like I need to get you a contract … right away.”

I broke down in tears. This wasn’t the response I expected from any corporation. We finalized an agreement that afternoon, and by Wednesday morning, I made my debut on "The Glenn Beck Program" as a Blaze Media contributor.

The government makes its move

After complying with the grand jury subpoena, we heard nothing from the Justice Department until December 14, 2023. While sitting in Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s office, I received a text from my attorney: “You need to call me ASAP.”

A message like that is never good news. I stepped into the hallway of the Rayburn Congressional Office Building and called him. He informed me that the FBI had just contacted him, saying I needed to surrender within the week.

My next call was to Peterson. The company sprang into action, booking me on all BlazeTV programs, including Glenn Beck's. Other major media outlets quickly picked up the story. By the end of the next day, the FBI agent called my attorney back to say the bureau would postpone my arrest until “sometime after the holidays.”

Early the following week, Peterson called me again. Was this the other shoe dropping at last? No. Instead, he told me Blaze Media wanted to hire me as a full-time investigative correspondent with full benefits. Once again, the tears flowed. Who are these people?

On March 1, 2024, I was finally compelled to report to the FBI’s Dallas field office for arrest on four basic misdemeanor charges — the same charges leveled against hundreds of January 6 defendants. Despite their efforts, the Justice Department couldn’t make a felony charge stick. Nearly 38 months after January 6, 2021, I was brought before a Dallas magistrate in leg irons — for nonviolent misdemeanor charges.

I’ll spare you the details of the legal battles over the next eight months involving my attorneys, federal prosecutors, and Judge Christopher Cooper. Suffice it to say, I wanted to go to trial despite Cooper’s consistent denial of every motion we filed and his generally hostile attitude toward me. Since then-candidate Trump was openly promising pardons for January 6 defendants, we believed it was crucial for my trial date to occur after January 20, 2025, in hopes that he would win the election and end the proceedings in my case.

Judge Cooper, however, refused to grant a continuance, holding firm to the November 12 trial date originally set on the court’s calendar.

November 12 — exactly one week after the election. The timing wasn’t favorable for me, regardless of the outcome. In 2020, 95% of the D.C. jury pool voted for Biden. If Trump won, jurors might seek revenge. If Kamala Harris won, they’d feel emboldened to bury me. And Cooper’s dislike for me was plain to see.

Still, my attorneys were optimistic. They believed presenting a selective prosecution defense could force the government to explain why it hadn’t charged over 80 other journalists — mainstream, independent, bloggers, podcasters, social media influencers, credentialed, or uncredentialed. If successful, this strategy could lead to a landmark decision.

Alas, it was not to be. On November 6, the day after Trump won the election, I appeared before Judge Cooper at a pretrial hearing. The session was brief and brutal, as he denied every motion for discovery, a continuance, and even my right to argue a selective prosecution defense.

Immediately after the hearing, I joined a Zoom call with my four attorneys. One of them remarked, “This trial will be nothing more than a shaming exercise.” With that in mind, I instructed them to notify the prosecutors and the court that I would not proceed to trial and would instead plead guilty to all four misdemeanor charges.

I fully understood that it would take at least two months to be sentenced after my guilty pleas. I also recognized that if Trump fulfilled his promise to pardon nonviolent January 6 defendants, I would be in a unique legal position. Under federal law, a defendant is not considered “convicted” until sentencing, even after pleading guilty.

I took the risk. After I entered guilty pleas to all four charges, my sentencing was scheduled for March 6, 2025. If Trump kept his word, my case would be dismissed and the entire four-year ordeal would conclude — technically and legally — as if it had never happened.

The truth about January 6

Two months before joining Blaze Media, I spoke at a Wake County Republican Women’s Club luncheon in Raleigh, North Carolina. During my remarks, I made what I thought was a simple filler comment: “Whatever the Oath Keepers may or may not be individually guilty of, the one thing they are not guilty of is the crimes for which they were convicted.”

Unexpectedly, more than 100 women in the audience rose to their feet in a standing ovation. In that moment, I realized that America hadn’t lost its desire for true justice in the January 6 cases, even for those convicted of seditious conspiracy.

This wasn’t just the largest investigation and dragnet in American history — it was the most politically motivated mass persecution.

At the time, Fox News had just fired Tucker Carlson and largely abandoned January 6 coverage. For those of us working to expose the Justice Department’s weaponization, it was clear that the American people’s demand for real justice — and their frustration with the Biden DOJ’s witch-hunt — was growing. Trump must have sensed it too, as his promise of pardons became a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign.

Americans understand government overreach because resisting it is why this nation was founded. It’s in our DNA. Trump’s fulfillment of that promise on his first day back in office wasn’t just anticipated — it was a crucial factor in his November victory. Perhaps the decisive one. Because Americans want true justice for every citizen, regardless of the crimes those citizens may or may not have committed.

For nearly 1,600 January 6 defendants, the government went too far. It repeatedly trampled due process, destroyed lives over simple misdemeanors, and handed down egregiously unfair sentences. This treatment stood in stark contrast to D.C. rioters from 2017 and 2020, who often committed far worse crimes but saw their cases dismissed or received mere slaps on the wrist from the same D.C. judges and juries.

Relief, gratitude, and the need to heal

Initially, I advocated full pardons for all nonviolent January 6 defendants and a case-by-case review for the others. But in recent months, my stance shifted toward blanket pardons for everyone. Why?

It’s straightforward. Pick any case file from the nearly 1,600 defendants, and within five minutes, I could show you where the government violated basic due process rights or where judges allowed prosecutions to proceed under predetermined, unwinnable scenarios for defendants. Worse still, many defendants endured literal torture at the hands of their jailers.

Given the overwhelming complications and extenuating circumstances, reviewing each case individually would have taken months, if not years. Blanket pardons were the only just solution.

On the evening of January 20, I was stunned by Trump’s decision to grant blanket pardons, commutations, and dismissals with prejudice. Vice President-elect JD Vance and attorney general nominee Pam Bondi had already hinted at pardons for the nonviolent with case-by-case reviews for others. Trump’s final announcement and signature left me breathless.

It was the right decision and exactly what was needed. Even the most violent January 6 defendants had their rights trampled by Biden’s Justice Department. Trump’s courage and action brought tears to my eyes — and still do as I write this.

For nearly four years, I’ve said I saw bad people doing bad things on January 6. I also saw good people doing good things. And I saw otherwise good people doing stupid things.

This applied to both sides of the police line that day.

Critics decrying the pardons and commutations of the violent defendants fail to grasp the extent of the Biden administration’s weaponization against all January 6 participants — the violent, the rowdy, and the accidental tourists who walked through open doors to snap a selfie in the Rotunda.

This wasn’t just the largest investigation and dragnet in American history — it was the most politically motivated mass persecution. Nonviolent participants suffered severely for the minor offense of glorified trespassing. Those who assaulted law enforcement officers have already faced severe penalties, some warranted and others unconstitutional.

The president did the right thing. Let the healing begin.