Another fat pitch put over the plate for the Democrats to watch go by. The Republican Propaganda Machine would be going absolutely nuts if a story like this came out about the Democrats. But just crickets from the current hopeless, feckless, wimpy Democrats. The current Democrats never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity:
Updated
March 10, 2025 at 5:56 p.m
When the FBI raided the Baltimore County home of Elias N. Costianes in February 2021, they found cocaine, testosterone, marijuana, a scale and guns. “The defendant was a drug dealer,” prosecutors would later say, adding, “he was also armed.” Costianes said he was merely supplying himself and friends.
In September 2024, a federal judge sentenced Costianes, who pleaded guilty to possessing a gun while using illegal drugs, to a year and a day in federal prison. But Costianes then played a new card: He was also part of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and President Donald Trump had pardoned him.
Costianes claimed that the pardon also covered his gun conviction because the FBI raid was related to his pardoned actions on Jan. 6.
And the government agreed.
In seven cases around the country, the Justice Department has argued that separate criminal actions uncovered by the Jan. 6 investigation are covered by Trump’s pardon, and the unrelated charges — usually for illegal gun possession — should be dismissed.
In some of the cases, federal prosecutors initially opposed wiping away the unrelated felony convictions. “The convictions did not occur at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” prosecutors in D.C. first argued in the case of Dan Edwin Wilson, sentenced to five years for possessing guns after multiple felony convictions. “And thus, by the plain language of the certificate, the pardon does not extend to these convictions.”
But within weeks, Wilson’s prosecutors reversed themselves, saying they had “received further clarity on the intent of the presidential pardon” from the Justice Department and that it did include “a pardon for the firearm convictions to which the defendant pleaded.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/03/10/justice-department-jan6-pardons/
Justice Dept. says many Jan. 6 pardons extend to crimes after that date
Defendants who picked up more charges while being arrested for the Capitol riot argue that Trump’s pardon extends to those too. The Justice Department agrees in most cases.Updated
March 10, 2025 at 5:56 p.m
When the FBI raided the Baltimore County home of Elias N. Costianes in February 2021, they found cocaine, testosterone, marijuana, a scale and guns. “The defendant was a drug dealer,” prosecutors would later say, adding, “he was also armed.” Costianes said he was merely supplying himself and friends.
In September 2024, a federal judge sentenced Costianes, who pleaded guilty to possessing a gun while using illegal drugs, to a year and a day in federal prison. But Costianes then played a new card: He was also part of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and President Donald Trump had pardoned him.
Costianes claimed that the pardon also covered his gun conviction because the FBI raid was related to his pardoned actions on Jan. 6.
And the government agreed.
In seven cases around the country, the Justice Department has argued that separate criminal actions uncovered by the Jan. 6 investigation are covered by Trump’s pardon, and the unrelated charges — usually for illegal gun possession — should be dismissed.
In some of the cases, federal prosecutors initially opposed wiping away the unrelated felony convictions. “The convictions did not occur at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” prosecutors in D.C. first argued in the case of Dan Edwin Wilson, sentenced to five years for possessing guns after multiple felony convictions. “And thus, by the plain language of the certificate, the pardon does not extend to these convictions.”
But within weeks, Wilson’s prosecutors reversed themselves, saying they had “received further clarity on the intent of the presidential pardon” from the Justice Department and that it did include “a pardon for the firearm convictions to which the defendant pleaded.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/03/10/justice-department-jan6-pardons/
