CHICAGO (Wales) — What has been billed as America’s largest criminal investigation to date is about to grind to a halt before it’s even completed.

More than 1,500 people charged with crimes connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could all be pardoned and new trials could be halted when Donald Trump retakes the presidency.

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President-elect Trump has promised to begin rewriting history for those already accused of these crimes, and at least for many more who are still out there.

But the Biden Justice Department continues to pursue, arrest and prosecute people who collapsed the Capitol on Jan. 6, and targets include Trump, who may pardon him, and many others involved that day.

The FBI continues to release new videos from Jan. 6 as Justice Department officials focus on the yet-to-be-identified rioters who attacked law enforcement that day.

Two suburban Chicago men These are the last people to be charged from Illinois with crimes and misdemeanors. Federal court records show those names were included in criminal complaints dated last week on Election Day.

But Trump’s election that day could bring a twist of fate that would ensure their good fortune and be a windfall for many of those already convicted or under investigation.

Trump has promised to release the so-called political prisoners of January 6th.

“He was allowed to do this because he has the pardon power granted to the President by our Constitution, one of the most powerful tools in the Chief Executive’s toolkit,” said Loyola University Rule of Law Director Juliette Sorensen. Institute.

Gil Soffer, a former federal prosecutor and ABC7 chief legal analyst, predicts Mr. Trump will follow suit.

“First of all, when it comes to protesters who have broken the law and have not yet been charged, or violent protesters, he can clearly order the ministry of justice not to bring these charges. If there are pending cases that have not yet been decided. If they have not reached a decision and have not been convicted, he can drop these cases. As for those who have already been convicted, he can pardon them. I don’t know, but Is that what he says? That’s what he will do, and that’s probably what he will do,” Soffer said.

The elected president is among those wearing the January 6 jacket. Trump will soon have the opportunity to pardon the rioters, police attackers, and himself for all crimes related to the riot.

“With every legal challenge that President-elect Trump has faced, both criminal and civil, his defiance and identification of those legal challenges has increased his support. His fundraising is improving in the wake of criminal charges. It characterizes the legal efforts against him. So to me, he’s upholding the rule of law and “It undermines equality before the law, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for many of his supporters.”

Although Trump called the riot prisoners “J-6 patriots,” he said he would look at them differently if a case involved someone who was, in his words, “evil and evil.”

It is not yet known whether this will include the 18 people charged with seditious conspiracy or those who hit police with brass knuckles, anti-bear spray, flag sticks or, in a few cases, carried knives, axes, swords or guns.