Lauren Ober was a juror on a Jan. 6 case. Then, she learned her new neighbors supported Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A conversation with journalist Lauren Ober about her experience on that jury, her podcast 'We Live Here Now,' and what Trump's pardons mean.
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Transcript
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| 0:35.2 | in for Magna Chakra Barth. January 6th. Just say the date. You don't |
| 0:39.9 | even have to mention the year, and the significance is understood. But there are different |
| 0:44.6 | storylines surrounding that day of the riot at the U.S. Capitol. One is from President Trump, |
| 0:50.7 | who claims that many of the rioters were unfairly prosecuted, political prisoners even. |
| 0:56.5 | And just hours after he was sworn into office last month, Trump pardoned the more than 1,500 people who were convicted on charges related to the January 6th riot. |
| 1:07.7 | So this is January 6th. |
| 1:10.5 | These are the hostages. Approximately 1,500 for a pardon. |
| 1:16.4 | Now, this was a touchy subject, even among Republicans. After all, some people were convicted on |
| 1:22.3 | charges of assaulting law enforcement and trying to disrupt official government proceedings, those of Congress. |
| 1:30.0 | Just about a week before the inauguration, then Vice President-elect J.D. Vance was on Fox News. |
| 1:35.8 | He didn't use the word hostage, like the president did. |
| 1:38.8 | What he did say was that there might be a more nuanced approach to any presidential pardons. |
| 1:44.8 | Look, if you protested peacefully on January the 6th and you've had Merrick Garland's Department |
| 1:49.7 | of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. |
| 1:54.0 | If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned. |
| 1:57.7 | And there's a little bit of a gray area there, but we're very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law. And there are a lot of people we think |
| 2:04.5 | in the wake of January the 6th who were prosecuted unfairly. We need to rectify that. |
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