Of all the things that Donald Trump did on day one of his presidency — and he did a lot of things, signing more than 200 executive orders — none might have been more controversial than pardoning nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the insurrection attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Already, two of the most far-right extremists — Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers — have been set free. Tarrio was serving a 22-year sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy. Rhodes was serving 18 years and had his sentence commuted.

Yet, many in the Trump world are already downplaying the pardons, just as they downplayed the actual violence of Jan. 6 when doors were busted, windows were smashed and, worst of all, law enforcement officers were physically attacked.

In one of her first appearances as White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt was asked on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday about the “controversy.”

Her response? “I don’t think it’s causing much controversy.”

Really?

Well, that’s partly true if your head is buried in conservative media. As CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote, “Pro-Trump media consumers are not hearing much at all about the January 6 pardons that have outraged and horrified so many people. The only MAGA-approved storyline is that Trump is keeping his promises to the families of ‘hostages,’ which ignores that the rioters were charged and convicted. But it’s barely breaking through as a story at all.”

When it is breaking through, it’s not viewed as a negative. Appearing on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Monday night, Fox News host Laura Ingraham called the pardons one of the day’s “highlights.”

She added, “1,600 pardons for J6ers who were arrested. And a lot of them were sentenced to two, three, four, five years in jail. His point is, documents were destroyed, which they were, and these people never had the real chance to put on a proper defense. That was really big.”

This is a different tune than the one Ingraham sang right after Jan. 6. In fact, the day after the attacks, Ingraham said on air, “Many who stormed the Capitol will likely face jail time. Good. Anyone who broke the law should.”

At the time, other Fox News stars — such as Sean Hannity and Jesse Watters — also criticized those who broke into the Capitol and acted violently. Those opinions, too, have long been forgotten and changed.

Meanwhile, it was only last week that Vice President JD Vance went on “Fox News Sunday” and said, “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”

Again, that was last week.

Perhaps sensing that wasn’t going to play well with Trump and the MAGA crowd, Vance later went on X and wrote, “First of all, I donated to the J6 political prisoner fund and got ROASTED for it during my senate race. I’ve been defending these guys for years. Second, there were federal informants in the crowd. Do they get a pardon? I don’t think so. The president saying he’ll look at each case (and me saying the same) is not some walkback. I assure you, we care about people unjustly locked up. Yes, that includes people provoked and it includes people who got a garbage trial.”

But it was May 2024 when Vance told CNN, “If you beat up a cop, of course you deserve to go to prison. If you violated the law, you should suffer the consequences.”

Of course, he said.

Meanwhile, new Secretary of State Marco Rubio twisted himself into a pretzel Tuesday to avoid condemning the insurrectionists or Trump’s decision to pardon them. The “Today” show played a 2021 clip of Rubio condemning the attacks before co-host Craig Melvin asked Rubio what kind of message pardoning those involved sends to the rest of the world.

Rubio used a technicality to get out of answering. He said, as secretary of state, he was not going to “engage in domestic political debates.” He added, “I hope you guys all understand that my days — at least in the time at the Department of State — of engaging in domestic politics will be put aside as I focus on the affairs the United States has around the world and the engagements we have to have to make our country a safer, stronger, more prosperous place.”

Pressed even further when asked if those pardoned might feel emboldened to resort to violence again, Rubio said, “I think it’s unfortunate, you know, our first engagement as I agree to come on this morning with you. I’m going to be working on foreign policy issues, and you want to revisit these issues that are going on in domestic politics. I’m just — it’s not going to happen. If you have questions for me about foreign policy and engaging in the world, I’d be happy to talk to you about those.”

It was disappointing, although not at all surprising that Rubio slithered his way out of answering. But good on Melvin for pushing the topic.

ABC “Good Morning America” co-host George Stephanopoulos also asked Rubio about it, and Rubio said, “I don’t anticipate a single one of our partners will ask about it, obviously. My job is to focus on the foreign policy of the United States. I have a different job this morning and a different focus. … I won’t be opining on domestic matters at this point.”

No surprise

Guess who is getting the first interview with Donald Trump in the Oval Office? Surprise, surprise, it’s his buddy Sean Hannity. It is scheduled to air tonight during Hannity’s 9 p.m. Eastern show on Fox News.

More notable journalism as Trump takes over as president

• More on the Jan. 6 pardons from The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake: “The gravity of Trump pardoning Jan. 6ers who assaulted police.” Blake wrote, “It’s not just that such a blanket pardon is unpopular and fraught; it’s also the message it sends to his supporters. Regardless of the merits of any individual pardon, the breadth of Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons and the fact that they were not at all targeted cannot help but send a message that he will do what he can to protect those who rise up — and even assault police officers — in his defense. It’s easy to see how certain supporters might take that as license to go to drastic lengths to support Trump.”
• The Associated Press’ David Bauder with “Symbol of unity? Inauguration news coverage illustrates differences that pull country apart.”
• The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher with “Trump Is at the Peak of His Power. The Question Is for How Long.”
• Politico’s Dasha Burns and Megan Messerly with “The 21 people in Trump world you need to know.”

Musk’s gesture

It sure looked like X owner and Trump BFF Elon Musk gave a Nazi salute (twice) after his speech on Monday.

There are those who absolutely believe that he did, given that, as The Guardian’s Ashifa Kassam reports, “Musk has used his influence to back far-right and anti-establishment parties across Europe. Most recently, he vigorously campaigned for Alternative für Deutschland, whose leader in the eastern state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has twice been convicted of using the Nazi slogan ‘Everything for Germany’ at political events.”

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history and fascism at New York University, tweeted, “That was a Nazi salute — and a very belligerent one too.”

Musk posted on X, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”

The Anti-Defamation League, however, put out a statement that said, “This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety. It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”

Democratic New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the ADL by writing, “Just to be clear, you are defending a Heil Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity. People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now. You work for them. Thank you for making that crystal clear to all.”

The ridiculous theory out there is that Musk was using a “Roman salute.”  Washington Post columnist Philip Bump responded with a smart take: “‘It was a Roman salute’ is an updated version of ‘actually, the Buddhists also used swastikas.’ If you are using it post-1945, you know very well that the association has changed.”

Finally, British talk show broadcaster James O’Brien nailed it by saying this on his show Tuesday: “Anybody minded to tell me that that’s not what Elon Musk was doing must encourage him to go and do it in Germany and see what happens. And in fact, if you don’t think it was a Nazi salute, why don’t you do it at parent night next time you’re at your kid’s school or just do it now if you’re at work and see what happens. I think probably the best way to test it is to make sure you do it twice as well and make sure you hit your chest first before you throw your arm in there, just in case there’s any confusion about what’s actually going on.”

A possible settlement?

Prince Harry, shown here last September. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Just as the civil trial of Prince Harry against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers in London was set to begin, there was a delay. Why? The two sides are working on a last-minute settlement. NPR’s David Folkenflik wrote that NGN has made a “substantial settlement offer.”

Prince Harry and Tom Watson, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party, are suing Murdoch’s London tabloids for alleged unlawful gathering of information. The Washington Post’s Karla Adam wrote, “Harry alleges that articles written about him between 1996 and 2011 in the Sun tabloid and the now-defunct News of the World were the result of an illegal practice known as ‘blagging.’ He says hired investigators used duplicitous means to obtain private information about him and his relationships. Watson’s case includes allegations about phone hacking. He says he was targeted — at least 176 times — in retaliation for his role on a parliamentary committee that was investigating hacking claims.”

The NGN might want to reach a settlement to avoid losing this high-profile case, as well as having potentially embarrassing testimony come out about possible phone hacking and other illegal means to try to dig up dirt on Harry.

On the other side, The New York Times’ Mark Landler wrote, “If Harry accepts a settlement, it would spare him heavy financial risk. Under English law, Harry would be required to pay the legal costs of both sides — which could run into the tens of millions of dollars — if the court does not award him an amount commensurate with what News Group Newspapers had offered him in a settlement.”

However, time might run out quickly on settlement talks.

Landler wrote, “The judge in the case, Timothy Fancourt, showed mounting irritation on Tuesday with the requests by Harry’s lead lawyer, David Sherborne, for more time. Justice Fancourt said he understood that ‘there is a settlement dynamic at play, and that dynamic may change from time to time.’ But he told lawyers for both sides that the months leading up to the trial had given them ‘ample time’ to resolve their differences.”

However, Landler added, “The lead lawyer for News Group, Anthony Hudson, insisted that the two sides were ‘very close,’ and that a settlement would avoid ‘a very substantial sum’ in additional legal costs if the trial went ahead.”

In fact, this case could be close to an end by the time you read this on Wednesday.

Media tidbits

• Another high-profile Washington Post staffer is leaving the paper.  Philip Rucker, the Post’s national editor, is joining CNN as senior vice president of editorial strategy and news. Rucker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has been with the Post since 2005, will lead CNN’s coverage of the Trump White House. He will be based in Washington, D.C., and start his new job on Feb. 10.
• Allen Media Group, founded and run by Byron Allen, announced massive cuts that will see all of its local meteorologists eliminated or reassigned at its nearly two dozen stations across the country. CNN’s Liam Reilly has more with “Local TV meteorologists deliver tearful farewell as stations replace staff with The Weather Channel feed.”
• Variety’s Brian Steinberg writes about Fox News’ new daytime host: “Will Cain Aims to Bring Freewheeling Video Podcasts to Cable News. Could Others Follow?”
• Axios’ Sara Fischer with “New York Times eyes U.S. subscription bundle partners.”
• Jules Feiffer, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for editorial cartooning, has died. He was 95. Feiffer wrote a weekly comic strip in the Village Voice called “Feiffer.” His cartoons were also syndicated. Feiffer also wrote books and screenplays, including for the films “Carnal Knowledge,” directed by Mike Nichols, and “Popeye,” directed by Robert Altman. The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee has more.

Hot type

• For The New York Times, Laurie Gwen Shapiro with “John Lennon Came to My School When I Was 8. Or Did I Imagine It?”

More resources for journalists

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