Washington, D.C.: In his first act back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump pardoned all people convicted in connection with the Capitol Hill riots on Jan 6, 2021. Maraniss wrote a scathing response to a Washington Post editorial comparing Trump’s pardons to Joe Biden’s.
Maraniss, a long-time journalist and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, took to the social media platform Bluesky to share his dismay. “This morning’s Washington Post editorial equating Biden’s dubious pardons with Trump’s of January 6 Capitol riot defendants was irresponsible,” he wrote. He added, “The newspaper I have worked for for 48 years has lost its soul entirely.”
Maraniss, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1992 for his coverage of then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton, has written several books, including a biography of former President Barack Obama.
Trump started his second term with a pardon of 1,500 people convicted in connection with the insurrection at Capitol Hill on Monday. He also issued clemency to anti-abortion, nonviolent protesters charged with crimes under the Biden administration.
And on Wednesday, Trump pardoned two police officers convicted in the death of a 20-year-old Black man in Washington in 2020. Such a mass release of people involved in the Capitol Hill riots has drawn warnings from experts of potentially emboldening extremists as well as driving an increase in political violence.
The Biden administration had also previously granted preemptive pardons to Anthony Fauci, the former COVID-19 advisor who helped the federal government battle the pandemic; retired four-star general Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and his close family members from “politically motivated prosecutions” of the Trump administration. The administration also sent pardons to members and staff of the U.S. House Committee investigating the Capitol Hill attack.