In a matter of hours after being sworn into office, President Donald Trump delivered on a promise in a way that even high-level Republicans didn’t see coming. Trump granted sweeping pardons for more than 1,500 January 6 defendants. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, Hanna encounters Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes, who is walking free after a commutation from Trump, and she talks with the families of two men who were convicted of crimes for their actions on January 6, and are now newly freed. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Hello. Hey, this is actually Hannah Rosen. I'm calling on my son's phone.
How are you?
You sound happy.
I am. I just got done bawling.
bawling, as in crying, hard.
I think everything just came out. I was just holding it in for the last, how many years?
That was Marie Jonatakis, whose husband Taylor was just pardoned by President Donald Trump. He'd been sentenced to over seven years for what he did at the Capitol on January 6th. Now, he's coming home. This is Radio Atlantic. I'm Hannah Rosa. A few hours into his second term, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who were charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Some had been charged with serious felonies, like assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. Others were charged with misdemeanors, like trespassing and disorderly conduct. I've gotten to know a lot of January Sixers over the last couple of years, so I know how these prosecutions have upended their lives.
And I know that for a lot of them, the pardons have restored their sense of justice. For them, this week feels like the world is set right again. And as I checked in with them this week and hung out outside the D.C. jail, mostly, I just saw the chasm more clearly. How one person's order restored is another person's lawless abandon.
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