Nearly one year after the mass pardon of more than 1,500 Trump-supporting Capitol riot defendants, members of a House committee are investigating whether any of the pardoned rioters are now working for President Trump’s administration in the fast-growing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
In a three-page letter sent Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi and obtained by CBS News, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee has requested all “records, documents, memos, and internal communications regarding the solicitation and hiring of anyone charged or investigated for actions in connection to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.”
The committee’s Democrats also said it remains unclear how many January 6 defendants “have been invited to join the ranks of this Administration, including among the masked Department of Homeland Security agents and officers.”
It’s also not clear if ICE has hired any Jan. 6 defendants. But the agency is engaging in a rapid hiring spree, funded by a $75 billion funding boost passed by Congress last year that could allow ICE to add thousands of agents.
And the Democrats’ letter noted that other pardoned riot defendants or members of the crowd on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 have already joined the administration.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and the judiciary panel’s ranking member, said it is possible riot defendants would go unrecognized while serving as immigration agents.
“Unique among all law enforcement agencies and all branches of the armed services, ICE agents conceal their identities, wearing masks and removing names from their uniforms,” wrote Raskin, who previously served on the House’s Jan. 6 select committee.
Raskin’s inquiry said, “Who is hiding behind these masks? How many of them were among the violent rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6th and were convicted of their offenses?”
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CBS News.
Mr. Trump’s pardons of more than 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters have triggered an outcry among victims of the Capitol insurrection and Democratic members of Congress, who argue Mr. Trump has incentivized violence in his name by giving clemency to supporters who committed violence.
Mr. Trump has defended the pardons, claiming many of the defendants were “absolutely innocent,” were guilty of “minor” infractions or were given unfairly harsh sentences.
In testimony at a congressional hearing last week, Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who also served on the House’s Jan. 6 committee, said the mass clemency has emboldened the rioters.
“The greatest threat to democracy comes from those in positions of power who are willing to subvert the rule of law. That is exactly what this Administration is trying to engineer,” he said.
The inquiry into ICE hiring comes amid a roiling controversy over the deployment of federal agents into U.S. communities and confrontations between agents and protesters.
Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer who helped repel the rioting mob at the Capitol, told CBS News: “Given the pardons and appointments of people into this administration, lawlessness is not frowned upon but rewarded.”
At least one Capitol riot defendant has secured a high-ranking post in the Justice Department: Jared Wise, who is serving as an agency adviser.
Raskin’s letter to the Justice Department alleged that Wise now has contributed to the administration’s efforts “to fire, demote, and harass the dedicated career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support personnel who did their professional and civic duty holding to account the persons who committed crimes on January 6th.”
Wise, a former FBI employee, was pardoned on charges of civil disorder and assaulting or resisting law enforcement. The Justice Department alleged in 2023 that Wise told D.C. police officers, “You guys are disgusting. I’m former—I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can’t see it.”
Wise’s trial was underway when Mr. Trump issued the January 20, 2025 pardons. His case was dismissed hours later.
Raskin is seeking information about any hiring of people pardoned by Mr. Trump by Jan. 26.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-democrats-trump-administration-jan-6-rioters-ice/
