Mr. Pattis quickly pivoted to asking the president-elect for a complete pardon for Mr. Biggs, suggesting that exonerating Mr. Biggs would serve the broader public interest in much the same way that the clemency granted to thousands of Confederate supporters helped to heal the nation in the years that followed the Civil War.
While Mr. Trump repeatedly promised during his recent campaign to pardon the more than 1,500 people charged so far in connection with the Capitol attack, his transition team has not yet put in place a formal policy about how to handle clemency requests like Mr. Biggs's.
He brought up the 2020 election, which many of Mr. Trump's supporters were challenging on the day of the attack on the Capitol. Suspicions and bitterness about the election lingers to this day, he added.
A pardon of Mr. Biggs, Mr. Pattis went on, will help close that wound and inspire confidence in the future.
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