WASHINGTON, DC – The Guardian disclosed this week another Jan. 6 attacker, who was convicted for the 2021 US Capitol attack, has rejected a pardon from President Donald Trump, claiming in an interview published by New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR), “I don’t want the pardon. And I … reject the pardon.”
The Guardian reports that on Jan. 6, 2021, Jason Riddle accessed the US Senate parliamentarian’s office, drank a bottle of wine, stole a book, and created damage at the Capitol. He then received a 90-day prison sentence and a fine of $750 in April 2022 for pleading guilty to committing the misdemeanors in the attack.
The Guardian reports that, after Trump won the presidency in November, he gave blanket pardons or commutations to 1,500 plus people who were charged or convicted in the Capitol attack. A couple of the Capitol attackers ended up rejecting Trump’s clemency.
The Guardian wrote Riddle told NHPR that rejecting Trump’s pardon would benefit him with his future employment prospects.
He said, “I’m thinking down the road (if) an employer looks in my background, they see misdemeanors … with a presidential pardon—I think that tends to draw more attention.”
Riddle said he stopped supporting Trump when he saw Trump was asking his supporters to protest for him when he was being charged with falsifying business records in a case that included hush-money payments to an adult film actor, Stormy Daniels.
The Guardian reported Riddle’s response was, ”I remember thinking, ‘What are you doing, Trump?’ Remember what happened at the (Capitol) riot? Someone might get hurt. Why would you ask people to protest?’”
The Guardian concluded Riddle’s rejection of the pardon came months after he ran as a Republican for one of New Hampshire’s two US House seats. He failed to advance out of the election primary in September.
That’s two out of 1500, big whoop. And BTW, both of the people were not in jail at the time of the pardon.