‘WH Office of Pardon Attorney’ Parler Post Prompts Justice Department to Issue Statement

Around January 9 2021, in the days after a pro-Trump riot at the United States Capitol building, screenshots of a purported Parler post attributed to @WHPardonAttny (White House Office of Pardon) appeared, soliciting names, locations, and “what crimes you think you need to be pardoned for” — as with one extremely popular variation shared by @parlertakes:

On Reddit, other iterations were shared to r/ParlerTrolling and r/copypasta; the screenshot read:

WH Office of Pardon Attorney
@WHPardonAttny

We do not have much time to act.

POTUS is strongly considering PARDONING all of the patriots who #stormthecapitol

BUT we need to get him the right information so he can do it in the next week and a half.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PARDON please respond with a message containing the following information

Your name
Your city
What crimes you think you need to be pardoned for and a brief explanation of why you need the pardon (e.g. trespassing – entered the capitol; theft – stole art from the capitol; assault, etc. etc.)

The President needs this list by TUESDAY before the House can vote to impeach again.

Please share to anyone who may need it, we are trying to stay off the MSM so that the left does not learn of the President’s plan.

Best,
Rosalind

As of January 11 2021, Parler was inaccessible — but screenshots of purported responses (many of them clearly satirical) appeared in Twitter threads:

Archived, text-only versions of Parler shares also made the usual rounds, and a Twitter account (@WHPardonAttny) appears to have been created to continue the joke after Parler went down.

On January 9 2021, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a statement warning social media users about the posts:

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, January 9, 2021

Statement on Misinformation on Social Media Regarding the Office of the Pardon Attorney

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice issued the following statement:

“Please be advised that the information circulating on social media claiming to be from Acting Pardon Attorney Rosalind Sargent-Burns is inauthentic and should not be taken seriously.

“The Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney does not have a social media presence and is not involved in any efforts to pardon individuals or groups involved with the heinous acts that took place this week in and around the U.S. Capitol.”

According to the Department of Justice, it is true that Parler users shared a post attributed to @WHPardonAttny (White House Office of Pardon Attorney), soliciting names and “crimes you think you need to be pardoned for” from participants of the January 6 2021 Capitol riots. On January 9 2021, the Department of Justice issued a statement confirming that the “Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney does not have a social media presence,” and furthermore that it was “not involved in any efforts to pardon individuals or groups involved with the heinous acts that took place this week in and around the U.S. Capitol.”