![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-1-1024x672.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGraves helped lead the largest investigation in Justice Department history, overseeing hundreds of cases against rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His successor, whoever that will be, may preside over an abrupt end to that work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to pardon Capitol rioters when he returns to the White House next week, but Graves said pardons can\u2019t undo \u201cthe record that was built through these prosecutions and the accountability that has already been imposed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere will always be a public record of what occurred on January 6th, and people who care to know the facts will be able to find out the facts,\u201d Graves said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graves, who has faced a torrent of online abuse and calls for retribution from Trump supporters, said he has no plans to seek a pardon for himself before President Joe Biden leaves office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t even begin to know what I could possibly be pardoned for as a prosecutor,\u201d he added. \u201cThere is no crime here. There is just public servants doing their job and enforcing the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graves, who took office in November 2021, plans to step down Thursday ahead of Trump\u2019s inauguration Monday. Trump has vowed to issue pardons to Capitol rioters on his first day back in the White House, repeatedly referring to them as \u201chostages\u201d and \u201cpatriots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related crimes. Nearly 1,300 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a judge or jury after trials. And over 1,000 riot defendants have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving a term of imprisonment ranging from several days to 22 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only two Capitol riot defendants have been acquitted of all charges \u2014 in both cases by a judge after a bench trial. Many Trump supporters have cited that as evidence that Washington juries can\u2019t be fair and impartial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graves believes his office\u2019s near-perfect conviction rate reflects the strength of their evidence. Many rioters used cellphones to record and narrate their crimes and posted confessions on social media in the days following their attack, which disrupted the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is the most recorded crime in the history of the country,\u201d Graves said. \u201cThe evidence is just overwhelming in these cases. As someone who is a career prosecutor, it\u2019s rare that you have this much evidence, which is why you\u2019re seeing these outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over 100 police officers were injured while defending the Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters. Trump hasn\u2019t specified whether he would pardon rioters who assaulted officers, but Vice President-elect JD Vance said during an interview televised Sunday that rioters who engaged in violence \u201cobviously\u201d shouldn\u2019t be pardoned. Vance later said there was a \u201cbit of a gray area\u201d in some cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graves said he doesn\u2019t see any basis for a pardon or clemency in any Jan. 6 case. He also expressed confidence that the Justice Department can remain free from political interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI came in as a career prosecutor during a Republican administration,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a whiff of political interference in my time as a career prosecutor. I tend to believe past is prologue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graves said combating violent crime in Washington has been his primary focus over the past three years. He believes his office\u2019s efforts contributed to a 35% reduction in violent crime last year in the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProsecutors can influence these crime trends. They don\u2019t control them. There are a host of other actors that are involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graves said he had planned to leave the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office in 2025 no matter who won the presidential election. In the short term, he is looking forward to taking a vacation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd then I\u2019m sure at some point I will transition back to (law) practice, but that\u2019s all to be determined in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pardoning rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol four years ago can\u2019t erase the truth about what happened that day, the top federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C., said Tuesday as he prepares to leave office. \u201cThere is no undoing these prosecutions,\u201d U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves told The Associated Press. \u201cThe vindication of the rule of law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2994,3035,1700],"class_list":["post-9274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-dc","tag-prosecutor","tag-top"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/26-1-1024x671.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n