President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons of more than 1,500 people charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021, including individuals who assaulted police officers, stunned Republican lawmakers who witnessed firsthand the chaos on Capitol Hill four years ago.

Pressed on Donald Trump's Jan. 6 pardons, many Republicans said they want to move on. But as Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

Of all the executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office, the one that reverberated the most across Washington was his move to pardon Jan. 6 rioters.