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A New York man who has spent nearly four years behind bars on federal charges tied to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot got his trial pushed back Tuesday after arguing President-elect Donald Trump could pardon him when he takes office.
Jake Lang, who is the longest serving Jan. 6 defendant awaiting trial after he allegedly swung a baseball bat at law enforcement outside the Capitol during the rampage, notched the legal win when a judge delayed his trial over objections by federal prosecutors.
Lang, helping to represent himself, claimed in legal papers that Trump’s win over Vice President Kamala Harris indicated “a seismic shift in federal policy regarding January 6 defendants.”
The Sullivan County local added there is a “high likelihood of a Presidential Pardon or dismissal of the charges by the incoming administration,” according to the legal papers.
Trump has said numerous times pardons are on the table for offenders charged in connection to the riot.
“It is neither just nor efficient to subject the Defendant to a show trial in front of a prejudiced jury pool under a prosecution marred by political bias,” he argued, requesting a trial date be set after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
He and his lawyer, Steven Metcalf, also cited Trump nominating Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to the attorney general post, though the firebrand ex-congressman dropped his bid for the job on Thursday under a cloud of disturbing allegations.
“There is a tornado and a hurricane outside this building right now and his name is Donald Trump,” Lang said in court Tuesday in response to a prosecutor’s argument, according to WUSA. “And he’s sweeping through the Department of Justice.”
Lang is among a number of January 6 defendants citing Trump’s election and the possible pardons he could dole out in their cases.
His trial was scheduled for Dec. 2 after other delays before it was pushed off again this week.
Lang was initially busted on Jan. 16, 2021 for his alleged role in the riot after he posted an image of the mob on social media with the words “THIS IS ME” with a pointing emoji superimposed on it.
He was hit with a slew of charges tied to the violent siege including criminal counts on assaulting law enforcement. Lang is accused of taking a bat to officers during the chaos.
Since his arrest, he’s been detained in a DC prison awaiting trial.
US District Judge Carl Nichols reluctantly put off Lang’s trial not just based on the possible pardon, but other issues with the timing of the court date hashed out over arguments made under seal, Politico reported.
Other arguments the defense offered in a bid to delay the trial included other January 6 cases clinching delays and the defendant’s lawyer recovering from surgery, according to court docs.
Prosecutors argued Lang’s claim he could be pardoned by Trump is “purely speculative and does not warrant delay of his trial.”
“With few exceptions, efforts to continue proceedings arising from the events of January 6, 2021 based on hopes of a presidential pardon have failed,” a Department of Justice lawyer wrote while also citing the alleged assault on police officers.
Trump addressed the potential pardons for Jan. 6 defendants multiple times during his campaign to recapture the White House, including saying at a CNN town hall last year “I would say it will be a large portion of them.”
He told Time in April he would pardon every defendant before noting, “If somebody was evil and bad, I would look at that differently.”
The feds have said more than 1,500 defendants have been charged for their roles in the riot.