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Before Donald Trump’s second presidential term began, then-federal prosecutor Ashley Akers knew that some sort of clemency for U.S. Capitol rioters was coming. Trump spoke about it often.
Akers didn’t know that Trump would pardon all 1,583 of them — and that he would laud those who assaulted law enforcement as heroes, while vilifying those who brought them to justice.
“I had no idea, no conception that the people who I prosecuted, who were convicted of seven, eight, nine violent assaults against police officers, many with deadly or dangerous weapons, many who left police officers permanently injured,” Akers told All Rise News in a 30-minute Substack Live. “I had no conception that those people could be pardoned.”
Disgusted early on, Akers resigned and denounced Trump’s “wild goose chase” for government misconduct.
“I did it because that day was such an affront to our democracy,” Akers said. “Politics aside, you can't have a group of people overtake an entire branch of government and stop that constitutional process. That's not the recourse that our Constitution sets forth.”
In a wide ranging interview, Akers said that Trump’s pardons send the message that political violence that serves his political interests is acceptable, and that message filled the victims she worked on behalf of with fear.
“I woke up the next morning and was receiving dozens of calls from police officers, from family members, from witnesses who testified in the trials, who were similarly shocked and scared and upset at the pardons,” she said. “And I continue to be shocked and upset and scared … because it was a major bash on the rule of law, and it's something that we've seen continue since January 20th.”
Akers channeled that energy into advocacy for the group Speak Up for Justice, dedicated to defending the judicial branch of government. She spoke about the death threats judges and prosecutors have faced because of their work.
“We can't live in a society where judges are actually being murdered for how they rule based on law and fact,” she said. “And so we're getting close, though — because if you're getting pizza deliveries to your house, that means there are people who feel comfortable enough in our current society to openly threaten judges.”
Across the United States, judges have received pizza deliveries at their homes, often in the name of the murdered son of Judge Esther Salas. The phenomenon is known as “pizza doxxing,” and it sends a chilling message: an implied death threat from a sender that knows the judges’ addresses.
Many of the recipients have ruled against Trump, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) previously told All Rise News about his efforts to investigate the issue, with little cooperation from the U.S. Marshals.
Akers expressed hope that law enforcement is taking the threats seriously, and the cases have not been made public yet because of confidential investigations. She emphasized the need for government workers to feel supported.
You can watch the full video at the top of this story.
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