Chicago City Council Blocks Jan. 6 Rioters From City Jobs After Trump Pardons
Heather Cherone | April 16, 2025, 5:58 pm
The Chicago City Council voted 44-3 Wednesday to ban those who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol from working in city jobs after most were pardoned by President Donald Trump.
“Traitors to this country should not be allowed to work for the city of Chicago,” Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward) said.
Alds. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward), Anthony Napolitano (41st Ward) and Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) voted against the ban. All three represent the Far Northwest Side of the city, home to many Chicago police officers and firefighters.
Sposato said Jan. 6 was not an insurrection, but an “attack, a riot, by idiots.” He also called it a “nothingburger.”
Although Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) said the ban would set a “dangerous precedent,” he voted for it.
Shortly after taking office in January, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who were convicted of attacking the Capitol as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker directed state hiring officials to block the employment of anyone who took part in the attack that claimed the lives of five members of the U.S. Capitol Police and injured an additional 174 officers.
Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to follow the governor’s lead, prompting Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward) to partner with Alds. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward), Chris Taliaferro (29th Ward) and Bill Conway (34th Ward), who are all veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, to craft a ban with a city ordinance.
After the City Council meeting, Johnson endorsed the measure, saying it would ensure the city is run by people dedicated to preserving American democracy.
City officials told alderpeople they did not know whether any current city employees were convicted of participating in the Jan. 6 attack and then pardoned.
Approximately 50 Illinois residents were pardoned by Trump after being convicted of offenses connected to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including former Chicago Police Officer Karol Chwiesiuk, who was convicted of four misdemeanors for entering the Capitol. He was sentenced to three months of home detention.
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg has repeatedly criticized Johnson and Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling for failing to keep their promises to root out extremism in police ranks.
Witzburg has repeatedly found probes conducted by the Bureau of Internal Affairs into officers with documented ties to the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys deficient. The city’s watchdog has also blasted Snelling for declining to terminate those officers for violating the department rule that prohibits officers from bringing discredit to the department.
Johnson has referred to the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys as “unconscionable hate groups” but said there are “very few courses of action that can be taken” if investigators do not gather evidence of wrongdoing by the officers.