This morning, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) sent out a statement to his eleven fellow New Jersey House members condemning President Donald Trump’s pardons for those who committed crimes during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, asking them to sign onto it.
The state’s eight other Democratic representatives quickly did so. Its three Republicans never responded.
The statement, released by Pallone’s office this afternoon, criticizes the sweeping pardons – they apply to more than 1,500 people involved in the January 6 riot, including those who assaulted law enforcement officers – and singles out the man who pepper-sprayed Brian Sicknick, a Capitol police officer who died after suffering two strokes the following day.
“We unequivocally condemn President Trump’s pardons of those convicted for the violent January 6th attack on the Capitol,” the statement reads in full. “The release of Julian Khater, who brutally assaulted Officer Brian Sicknick – a proud New Jerseyan who gave his life defending our democracy – is an appalling miscarriage of justice and a slap in the face to law enforcement officers everywhere. This shameful pardon undermines the rule of law and is an unforgiveable betrayal of all the law enforcement officers who performed their duties bravely on that dark day. President Trump’s pardoning of these violent criminals is not only an insult to Officer Sicknick’s memory, but also sets a dangerous precedent that puts our democracy at risk.”
When asked by the New Jersey Globe why they had chosen not to sign onto the statement, the offices of Reps. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), and Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) did not provide any explanation. None of the three congressmen have commented on the pardons since Trump issued them, either.
Speaking with NJ Spotlight News last week, before Trump took office, Smith and Van Drew said they were broadly supportive of the idea of pardoning those convicted on January 6-related charges. But both said they believed some violent offenders should remain in prison, a nuance that Trump’s eventual pardons did not have.
“There were a small handful that should go to jail,” Van Drew said. “But there were a good number of them that should not, and it is time to move on.”
‘I don’t know how many people he’s going to pardon, but he needs to be looking to pardon a great number of them,” Smith said, with the caveat that those guilty of “violence against a cop, real violence” should not be included.
Kean, meanwhile, did not respond to Spotlight News’s request for comment. That decision prompted a number of local Democratic elected officials back in Kean’s 7th congressional district, a swing district that Democrats made a serious effort to flip in 2024, to send a letter to Kean asking him to take a definitive stance on the issue.
“The President’s actions undermine the responsibility to maintain safety and further embolden those who would use violence to advance a political agenda,” reads the letter led by former Summit Councilman Greg Vartan, who briefly ran against Kean last year. “We respectfully request that you demonstrate your support for the safety of our communities and our law enforcement officers by publicly denouncing the President’s actions.”
Trump’s choice to pardon those convicted of violent crimes has not just drawn blowback from Democrats; some of the president’s own supporters have also broken with him on the issue. One poll from earlier this month found that 30% of Republicans opposed pardoning those involved in January 6, and the Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed Trump for president last year, said in a joint statement with another police union that those convicted of harming police officers should have remained jailed.
“The [International Association of Chiefs of Police] and FOP are deeply discouraged by the recent pardons and commutations granted by both the Biden and Trump Administrations to individuals convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers,” the unions said, referring also to Joe Biden’s flurry of sentence commutations in his final days in office. “The IACP and FOP firmly believe that those convicted of such crimes should serve their full sentences.”
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