Some federal judges in Washington, D.C. have strongly criticized President Donald Trump after he pardoned about 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants and commuted the sentences of 14 others. 

These judges had to dismiss the cases of the Jan. 6 defendants, including judges Beryl Howell and Tanya Chutkan.

“[T]his Court cannot let stand the revisionist myth relayed in this presidential pronouncement,” Howell wrote in a Wednesday order.

“The prosecutions in this case and others charging defendants for their criminal conduct at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, present no injustice, but instead reflect the diligent work of conscientious public servants, including prosecutors and law enforcement officials, and dedicated defense attorneys, to defend our democracy and rights and preserve our long tradition of peaceful transfers of power—which, until January 6, 2021, served as a model to the world—all while affording those charged every protection guaranteed by our Constitution and the criminal justice system," the statement continued.

Howell dismissed the case of Proud Boys leader Nicholas Ochs.

Chutkan dismissed the case of defendant John Banuelos, according to The Daily Caller.

She wrote that dismissing the case “cannot repair the jagged breach in America’s sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power.”

When Trump was on the campaign trail, he promised he would pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, the overwhelming number of whom did nothing violent that day. Trump believes that they were political prisoners, and were treated much differently than people who rioted in the name of Black Lives Matter and Antifa. 

“And look what happens in other parts of the country in Portland where they kill people. They destroy the city. Nothing happens to them. In Seattle where they took over a big chunk of the city. Nothing happened. Minneapolis, where they burned down the city,” Trump said.