Federal Judge Amit Mehta sentenced January 6 defendant John Lolos to two weeks in jail and $500 in restitution on Friday, the latest in a string of Capitol rioters who have had to face consequences for their actions that day. But during the sentencing, Mehta expressed some measure of sympathy for Lolos and suggested that perhaps he was giving him a lighter sentence due to the outside forces that had influenced his actions.

It’s the first time we’ve seen a judge seemingly lay the blame for the Capitol riots squarely at the feet of the former president, although he did not mention Trump by name:

People like Mr. Lolos were told lies, were told falsehoods, were told the election was stolen when it was not. Regrettably, people like Mr. Lolos who were told those lies took it to heart. And they are the ones paying the consequences.

Those who created the conditions that lead to Mr. Lolos’ conduct have in no meaningful measure been held accountable. You were a pawn. You were a pawn in the game played by people who know better.

While most believe that Trump is ultimately responsible for the incidents of January 6, it can be difficult to separate the criminals who carried it out from the crimes they committed, no matter how much remorse they express. In the end, we are all responsible for our own choices, and if they were the kind of people who would end up at the Capitol that day to begin with, sympathy is a hard thing for me to feel for them.

Mehtas’ sympathy for Lolos, however, seemed limitless, even forgiving the fact that Lolos rambled on in court, continued to spout unfounded statements about a stolen election, and essentially showed little or no regret for his actions. The judge almost excused it because, in his words, “a lie isn’t easy to unhear.”

It is easy not to listen in the first place, though.

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