Letters from an American - January 23, 2025

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

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January 23rd, 2025. Last night, in an interview with host Sean Hannity on the Fox News channel, President Donald Trump tried to explain away his blanket pardons for the January 6th rioters, calling the instances of violence against police officers very minor incidents. In fact, as Brett Samuels of The Hill reported, about 600 of the rioters were accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers, and 10 were convicted of sedition. Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News explained that rioters wounded more than 140 officers with firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, office furniture, pepper

spray, bear spray, a tomahawk axe, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, a massive Trump billboard, Trump flags, a pitchfork, pieces of lumber, crutches, and even an explosive device. Three federal judges have weighed in on the pardons after Trump's appointees in the Department of Justice ordered them to dismiss pending cases against current January 6 defendants, an order that, as David Kurtz of Talking Points Memo noted, flies in the face of decades of DOJ independence. U.S. District Judge Colleen Coller-Cotally summed up the judge's outrage when she wrote, dismissal of charges, pardons after convictions, and commutations of sentences will not change the truth of what happened on January 6, 2021. What occurred that day

is preserved for the future through thousands of contemporaneous videos, transcripts of trials, jury verdicts, and judicial opinions analyzing and recounting the evidence through a neutral lens. Those records are immutable and represent the truth no matter how the events of January 6th are described by those charged or their allies. The leaders of two key paramilitary gangs who participated in the January 6th violence, Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stuart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers, are not helping Trump to put the pardons behind him. Now out of prison, rather than serving his 22-year sentence, Tarrio called in to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's Infowars within hours of his release to claim that he still commands the gang

and that he plans commands the gang and that he plans retribution for those who put him behind bars. Tess Owen of Wired reported that the global project against hate and extremism, which monitors online activity, saw a surge among Proud Boys channels after the pardons as members discussed ways to advance Trump's agenda. Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, also wants revenge. On Wednesday he was at the US Capitol where Michael Kunzelman and Lisa Mascarro of the Associated Press reported he met with at least one lawmaker and chatted with others.

Politico's Charlie Matasian reported tonight that those January 6 rioters Trump pardoned are already talking about running for office. Matasian notes that in primaries where candidates need to prove they are truly MAGA, those who serve time in prison for Trump will have sterling credentials. Consulman Amiscarill also noted that in an apparent attempt to divert attention from the pardons back to Trump's contention that the bipartisan January 6th committee had been biased against him, on the same day that Rhodes was at the Capitol, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican of Louisiana, revived a special committee to retrace the steps of the House

Committee that investigated the riot. But that didn't go terribly well as Jacqueline Olimaney of the Washington Post today reported an exclusive story revealing that last June an aide to Johnson advised the committee not to subpoena White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, out of concern that if it did, the sexually explicit texts Republican lawmakers had sent her might come to light. According to Alamaney, multiple colleagues had raised concerns with the Speaker's Office about the potential for public disclosure of sexual texts from members who were trying to engage in sexual favors with Hutchinson. Instead, the committee accused former representative Liz Cheney, a Republican of Wyoming,

of talking to Hutchinson without Hutchinson's lawyer present. Cheney called the report defamatory and a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. Apparently undaunted, Trump today issued pardons for nearly two dozen anti-abortion activists convicted of violating the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, which the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice explains prohibits threats of force, obstruction, and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services. Trump, who is due to speak tomorrow by video with the annual Anti-Abortion March for Life, said it was a great honor to pardon the

protesters. Still, Alice Miranda Olstein of Politico reported that one anti-abortion activist who wanted to remain anonymous because she fears retaliation from the administration wondered why Trump hadn't pardoned the anti-abortion activists on Monday as he did the January 6 rioters. These pardons are fully in line with Trump's agenda to oppose the weaponization of the government," she told Olstein. So why he couldn't have pardoned them along with the 1500 on day one is beyond me. It seems that for Trump and his extremist supporters, the federal government, which reflects the

will of the majority, has been weaponized against a political minority that seeks to control the country. To gain that control, Trump has assured his followers that the country is literally under attack and that the United States, which has the strongest military and the strongest economy in the world, is losing. On Monday, Trump, who persuaded Congressional Republicans to kill a strong bipartisan measure to tighten the border and fund immigration courts so asylum seekers could have quick hearings, declared that a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States, although border crossings are lower now than they were at the end of his first administration. The Order asked the heads of the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to

consider whether it was necessary to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, which allows the President to deploy the military to suppress domestic insurrection. Yesterday, Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Solessas told reporters that the Department of Defense has ordered 1,500 active-duty military personnel, along with air support and intelligence assets, to the southern border of the United States, joining 2,500 active-duty military personnel already there, and that the military will provide flights for deportations led by the Department of Homeland Security. White House

spokesperson Caroline Levitt told reporters that Trump is directing the Department of Defense to make Homeland Security a core mission of the agency. Idris Ali and Phil Stewart of Reuters report that there have been informal discussions in the department about sending as many as 10,000 troops to the border, a discussion that raises the question of whether Mexico would feel obliged to respond in kind. And according to Meg Kelly, Alex Horton, and Missy Ryan of the Washington Post, the Trump administration is trying to get rid

of an office in the Pentagon that works to protect civilians in battlefield operations. The Civilian Protection Center of Excellence is housed within the Department of the Army and works to help the military limit unintended civilian deaths. And yet, the idea of using a strong military to defend America apparently does not extend

to its leadership. Tara Copp of the Associated Press reported that Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary, Fox News Channel Weekend host Pete Hegseth, who has a history of financial mismanagement, alcohol abuse, and allegations of sexual assault, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he paid a woman $50,000 as part of a confidentiality agreement to maintain her silence after she accused him of sexual assault. Today, both Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican of Alaska, and Senator Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine, said they could not support Hegseth's nomination. They were the only two Republicans who refused to

vote in favor of his nomination advancing to the full Senate today. But they are not the only ones standing against Trump's attempt to overturn traditional American values. Today U.S. District Judge John Coffinure issued a temporary restraining order to block Trump's executive order that sought to end the birthright citizenship established in 1868 by the 14th Amendment. 22 states and two cities, as well as other parties, have sued over the executive order. Kofenor was responding to a suit brought by Arizona, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington. Kofenor, who was

appointed to the bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1981, told Trump's Department of Justice attorneys, I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as it is here. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order. When the lawyers told him they maintained the order was constitutional, Kofenor was aghast. I have difficulty understanding how a member of the Bar can state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It boggles my mind. Where were the lawyers when this decision was being made?

Kofenor blocked the order until February 6th when he will hold a hearing to consider a preliminary injunction. And after Trump announced he would withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC, billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday announced that his philanthropic foundation will cover the financial contribution the U.S. will not. According to Zach Budrick of The Hill, it will also provide the agreement's reporting

requirements for emissions associated with climate change. Philanthropy's role in driving local, state, and private sector action is more crucial than ever, and we're committed to leading the way," Bloomberg said. Finally tonight, firefighters have begun to control the fires in Southern California. As of this evening, the Hughes Fire is 36% contained. The Laguna fire is no longer expanding. The Palisades fire is 75% contained. And the Eaton fire is 95% contained. New fires have broken out, but rain is forecast for the weekend.

Letters from an American was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.