The first week of the second Trump administration saw a flurry of executive orders, including moves to shut down borders to immigrants coming into the United States, dismantling federal DEI efforts and pardoning Jan. 6 defendants — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore each responded to President Donald Trump’s actions. Eau Claire City Attorney Stephen Nick explained why he is seeking legal guidance from the state over law enforcement officers from other jurisdictions transporting homeless people in need of services to the city.
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson
R-Wisconsin

• President Donald Trump pardoned approximately 1,400 defendants charged by the U.S. Department of Justice for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Many of those charged were convicted and sentenced for violence against Capitol Police officers that day. Johnson responded to the pardons, which included 11 people from Wisconsin.
• Johnson: “I think there was a grotesque miscarriage of justice throughout the Biden administration — really a lawless administration. But as relates to January 6th, I think so many of these people were persecuted, weren’t offered speedy trials. So there were many harms that needed to be rectified there. Personally, I probably would have done it in different stages, been a little more selective, but I think in the end, President Trump apparently just decided to pardon them all. And I, truthfully, don’t have any problem with that. I don’t think anybody is really a true danger to society.”

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore
D-4th Congressional District

• U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore did not attend President Trump’s inauguration, and instead was in her district in Milwaukee on Jan. 20 to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She had sharp words about his pardons of the Jan. 6 defendants.
• Moore: “Maybe I’m cowardly, but I’m terrified. One of my staffers said that she went to the cafeteria in this building and one of the January 6th people were there. I do know that most of the nonviolent, you know, little old ladies that had handmade signs were not the people who were indicted and in jail. The people who were indicted and jailed, I mean, they attacked police officers, they directed people to be violent, they had caches of — and I’m terrified, and my staff, I mean, they were actually in this building. I’m scared of them, and I do think that we have seen Republicans here, you know, who are very, they’re very, very careful not to criticize Trump, but we have seen them stumbling over their words as they have been stunned by this. I think they thought that there would be a little bit more parsing — this one and that one — but these 1,500 commutations and releases are absolutely stunning, and I think that it’s going to be very difficult, you know, to talk about law enforcement and initiatives in this government when we have let all these lawless people out.”

Stephen Nick
City Attorney, City of Eau Claire

• The city of Eau Claire has been following law enforcement officers from outside the area increasingly transporting unhoused individuals in need of shelter or mental health services into his city – even when shelters are closed and services unavailable. Nick said these people end up being left at gas stations or otherwise without help to stay out of the cold. He has asked Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul for legal guidance on this practice, which he said is happening across the state as homeless populations rise.
• Nick: “I know it is an issue around the state and colleagues — my fellow city attorneys, corporation counsel — have reached out to express shared experiences and support. And so I hope that those voices are raised in other portions of the community, ’cause it most certainly is an issue in the Madison area, in the Milwaukee area and Fox Valley, Wausau, Stevens Point, La Crosse — all are having these same types of challenges.”

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