Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) was asked by a C-SPAN correspondent for her thoughts on the American citizens convicted of January 6-related crimes and how she perceived the broad swath of pardons issued by President Trump upon his return to office.
Hageman answered by calling the more than 1,500 Jan6 pardons “absolutely appropriate” and by citing two constitutional amendments to support her belief that clemency for the January 6 rioters was just.
Asserting that the January 6 convicts had been treated differently than other criminals — even in the large majority of cases where juries delivered unanimous convictions — Hageman claims that the “equal protection” clauses of the 5th and 14th amendments were violated in the prosecution of the Jan6ers.
The 14th amendment and its famous equal protection clause was created in the aftermath of slavery primarily to broaden the scope of those — including former slaves — entitled to the commonly held rights of the individual.
The ACLU writes that the amendment’s “pervading purpose” was to “eliminate the oppression of historically subjugated minorities and to provide equality of opportunity.” With her claim, Hageman essentially likens Jan6ers to a “subjugated minority” whose rights were infringed by law enforcement.
“It’s clear that they were being treated differently than other people,” the Congresswoman said.
Hageman compared the purportedly harsh treatment of those who breached the Capitol with the ostensibly less harsh treatment of those who protested the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 — including the vandals among the protestors who, according to MAGA orthodoxy, did not receive commensurate prosecution and punishment.
Host: What was your feeling about pardoning those involved on January 6?
Hageman: It was absolutely appropriate pic.twitter.com/PFkOvnTAPn
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 10, 2025
[NOTE: It’s primarily this view that put Hageman in the congressional seat previously occupied by Liz Cheney, who was dumped by voters and censored by Republicans for her work on the Jan6 Investigative Committee.]
Wyoming participants in the Capitol breach on January 6 included Douglas Harrington, who according to the Department of Justice, was “convicted of two felony offenses of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and five misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.”
[NOTE: Though the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, “granted U.S. citizenship to former slaves and specifically changed the rule in Article 1, Section 2 that slaves be counted only as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation in Congress. It also contained three new limits on state power: a state shall not violate a citizen’s privileges or immunities; shall not deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and must guarantee all persons equal protection of the laws.”]