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Justice Dept. Takes Broad View of Trump’s Jan. 6 Pardons

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Justice Dept. Takes Broad View of Trump’s Jan. 6 Pardons

Four years ago, when F.B.I. agents searched the Florida home of Jeremy Brown, a former Special Forces soldier, in connection with his role in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, they found several illegal items: an unregistered assault rifle, two live fragmentation grenades and a classified “trip report” that Mr. Brown wrote while he was in the Army.

Mr. Brown was ultimately tried in Tampa on charges of illegally possessing the weapons and the classified material. And after he was convicted, he was sentenced to more than seven years in prison — even before his Jan. 6 indictment had a chance to go in front of a jury.

On Tuesday, however, federal prosecutors abruptly declared that because the second case was related to Jan. 6, it was covered by the sprawling clemency proclamation that President Trump issued on his first day in office to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack.

And if a judge eventually agrees with that assessment, it could mean that Mr. Brown — whose Jan. 6 charges were already wiped out by the presidential pardon — will get to go free on his other case as well.

The Justice Department’s position with regard to Mr. Brown is not the first time it has said in recent days that separate criminal cases emerging from the investigation of Jan. 6 — especially those involving weapons discovered during searches — should be covered by Mr. Trump’s sweeping reprieves.

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Ed Martin, the acting U.S. attorney in Washington, advanced that view on Tuesday in the case of another pardoned Jan. 6 defendant, Daniel Edwin Wilson.

Mr. Wilson, a Kentucky-based militiaman, pleaded guilty last spring to charges of conspiring to impede or injure officers at the Capitol. And as part of his plea, he also admitted to possessing illegal weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition that were discovered during a search of his home as he was being investigated in connection with Jan. 6.

Just two weeks ago, Mr. Martin rejected the notion that the weapons charges were covered by Mr. Trump’s pardon. But he suddenly reversed himself this week, writing in a court filing that he had “received further clarity on the intent of the presidential pardon.”

“Under these circumstances,” Mr. Martin said, “the presidential pardon includes a pardon for the firearm convictions to which the defendant pled.”

Mr. Trump’s clemency proclamation says that anyone charged with or convicted of “offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” should either receive a pardon or have their case dismissed. And the Justice Department has increasingly taken the position that criminal behavior discovered during an investigation stemming from a suspect’s role in the Capitol attack is in fact related to Jan. 6.

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Last week, for instance, the same U.S. attorney who handled Mr. Brown’s case moved to dismiss gun charges against another pardoned Jan. 6 defendant, Daniel Charles Ball. Only three days after Mr. Trump granted him clemency, Mr. Ball had been rearrested on an indictment accusing him of illegally possessing a firearm seized during a search of his home while he was being investigated for his Jan. 6 case.

In a similar fashion, federal prosecutors in Maryland asked a judge last Wednesday to release from prison Elias Costianes, a drug dealer who pleaded guilty in 2023 to illegally possessing a firearm even as he was awaiting trial on his Jan. 6-related charges.

Mr. Costianes recently began serving a two-year sentence on the weapons offense, but prosecutors have now sought to free him.

“After consulting with the Department of Justice’s leadership, the United States has concluded that the president pardoned Mr. Costianes of the offenses in the indictment,” a federal prosecutor wrote in court papers to a federal appeals court that Mr. Costianes had asked to let him go. “He should be immediately released from custody.”

The Justice Department has at times drawn lines, taking the view that not every crime committed by a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant is covered by Mr. Trump’s clemency decree.

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Prosecutors, for example, have said they are unwilling to extend the pardon to a second case brought against Edward Kelley, a rioter from Tennessee who was convicted in November of plotting to assassinate the F.B.I. agents and police officers who investigated his Jan. 6-related case.

Mr. Kelley’s murder plot conviction, prosecutors wrote in a court filing last week, was simply not related to the Capitol attack.

“This case is about the defendant’s entirely independent criminal conduct in Tennessee, in late 2022, more than 500 miles away from the Capitol,” they said.

Mr. Martin’s office in Washington is also sticking — at least for the moment — by its plans to prosecute a pardoned rioter named Taylor Taranto. In June 2023, Mr. Taranto was arrested near the home of former President Barack Obama and the police found a cache of weapons, ammunition and materials that could be used to make explosives in his van.

Last month, following the instructions laid out in Mr. Trump’s pardon proclamation, Mr. Martin dismissed all of the Jan. 6-related charges Mr. Taranto faced. But he declined to drop the weapons offenses stemming from events two years ago, even though all of the charges were contained in the same indictment.

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“Taranto’s actions in June 2023 in Washington, D.C., were not offenses occurring at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” Mr. Martin wrote.

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Tehran says ‘no plans’ for new talks after US seizes Iranian cargo ship

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Tehran says ‘no plans’ for new talks after US seizes Iranian cargo ship

US negotiators to head to Pakistan and Iranian cargo ship seized – a recappublished at 00:37 BST 20 April

Image source, Reuters
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Tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday

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Here’s a recap of the latest developments.

US negotiators will head to Pakistan on Monday with the intention of holding further talks on ending the war, Trump says – but Iranian state media cites unnamed officials as saying Tehran has “no plans for now to participate”.

The prospect of further high-level negotiations – a White House official says Vice-President JD Vance will attend – comes amid reports of fresh attacks on commercial vessels.

Trump says the navy intercepted and took “custody” of an Iranian tanker attempting to pass through the US blockade, “blowing a hole” in the ship’s engine room in the process.

Earlier, in the same post announcing his representatives would travel for more talks, Trump renewed his threat to destroy Iranian energy sites and bridges if no deal is reached.

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Reports in Iranian media over the weekend suggest Iran is continuing to work on plans to potentially apply a toll to ships passing through the strait – although it’s unclear if such a move will be implemented.

Iranian state TV cites unnamed officials as saying that “continuation of the so-called naval blockade, violation of the ceasefire and threatening US rhetoric” are slowing progress in reaching an agreement.

Trump also accused Iran of violating the ceasefire, saying more commercial ships have been attacked by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

A UK maritime agency reported two commercial ships came under fire in the strait on Saturday.

Iran’s foreign minister had said on Friday that the strait would be opened – which was shortly followed by Trump saying the US naval blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place until a deal is reached. Iran has since said the strait is closed again.

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Video: 8 Children Killed in Louisiana Shooting, Police Say

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Video: 8 Children Killed in Louisiana Shooting, Police Say

new video loaded: 8 Children Killed in Louisiana Shooting, Police Say

A gunman shot 10 people, killing eight children, in a domestic violence shooting at multiple locations in Shreveport, La., the police said. The victims ranged in age from 1 to 14. The gunman was later fatally shot by officers.

By Christina Kelso

April 19, 2026

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Communities launch cleanup after severe weather and tornadoes churn across Midwest

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Communities launch cleanup after severe weather and tornadoes churn across Midwest

An aerial view shows damage from a tornado, on Saturday in Lena, Ill.

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Communities across the Upper Midwest are cleaning up after tornadoes and severe weather impacted the region over the weekend, damaging and destroying dozens of homes and knocking out power for tens of thousands.

“Numerous” severe storms were tracked across parts of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. At least 66 tornado reports were submitted in multiple states including Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa, the NWS Quad Cities IA/IL office said Sunday.

No deaths have been reported from the severe weather and tornado outbreak.

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In Marion Township in Minnesota, about 30 homes were damaged and a dozen have significant damage because of a tornado, according to the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office. The tornado also damaged at least 20 homes in Stewartville and there is a temporary shelter in Rochester for people displaced by the storms, according to MPR News.

“Tornado disaster recovery continues to occur at full speed,” the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said on Saturday.

In Illinois, McClean County officials declared a disaster emergency because of severe storms in Bloomington. “At this time, no injuries have been reported, and emergency response agencies remain actively engaged to ensure public safety and continuity of essential services,” officials said in a statement.

But further north in the village of Lena, an EF-2 tornado caused the “most significant damage” where “many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees uprooted, and power lines downed,” the NWS said. Numerous roads have also been blocked by debris, the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office also said.

People continue to clean up following tornado on April 18, 2026 in Lena, Illinois.

People continue to clean up following a tornado, on Saturday in Lena, Ill.

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There have been no fatalities and no reports of serious injuries associated with the storm, Chief Deputy Andy Schroeder from the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office told NPR on Sunday.

More than 43,000 customers lost power in Illinois but power was restored to almost all of them by Saturday night, according to electric utility ComEd.

Several tornadoes also occurred across Wisconsin, according to the NWS office in La Crosse. Twenty-six tornado warnings were issued by the office on Friday, the most in one day since the weather service office was built in 1995.

In one Marathon County town, 75 homes were destroyed by a tornado, according to Ringle Fire Chief Chris Kielman.

“It took out a whole residential area,” Kielman said, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

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The American Red Cross of Wisconsin said volunteers are helping those impacted by the storm with meals, shelter and support.

Parts of the state are still dealing with multiple rounds of severe weather and tornadoes from earlier in the week that brought flooding to some communities.

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