Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) was apparently baffled by the fact that Washington, D.C., Police Union boss Gregg Pemberton was less concerned with the January 6th pardons than the 1,537 police officers who’ve been assaulted since that day without justice being served on their behalf.
Pemberton and Durbin went back and forth several times on Tuesday, and the Illinois senator struggled to wrap his brain around the fact that Pemberton was unbothered by President Donald Trump’s blanket pardons for January 6 rioters.
WATCH:
🚨NEW: DC Police Union Boss Gregg Pemberton expresses “FRUSTRATION” as Dem Senator Dick Durbin *SOLELY* focuses on J6 officer assaults🚨
PEMBERTON: “More than 1,500 officers have been assaulted by people since that day — and nothing has happened to those suspects!”
“My… pic.twitter.com/x7mtWS5vzW
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) September 30, 2025
Durbin asked about the pardons right away, demanding to know how Pemberton had felt upon learning that Trump had pardoned those who’d been arrested and convicted for taking part in the January 6th riot on Capitol Hill.
Pemberton conceded that it was frustrating, but then said it was more frustrating to him that in the months since January 6, 2021, some 1,537 police officers had been assaulted — and after the suspects were arrested, the cases were “no-papered” by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, meaning that they could not proceed.
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Durbin once again asked about the pardons, and Pemberton pointed out the fact that those cases had already been adjudicated and that the defendants in question had already been charged and convicted — and some had served jail time — before those pardons were issued. The cases he was talking about never even made it before a judge — and the assaulted officers could never see justice — because the U.S. Attorney’s Office had stopped them cold.
Durbin raised the question of the pardons yet again, but Pemberton continued to push back.
“More than 1,500 officers have been assaulted by people since that day — and nothing has happened to those suspects!” he said.
“My frustration, Senator, is that no one seems to care about police officers who were assaulted after that day or before that day,” Pemberton continued. “It seems like people only care about police officers who were assaulted on that day in the calendar!”
