A Justice Department prosecutor struggled in court on Wednesday to articulate the administration's view of the full intention of President Donald Trump's mass pardon of Jan. 6 rioters, as the government argued that Trump's pardon should apply to separate criminal conduct committed by Capitol rioter Dan Wilson in Kentucky in 2023.

Prosecutors are siding with some defendants who argue the pardon absolves them of additional offenses, some discovered during investigations of the Capitol riot.

A federal judge on Wednesday criticized the Justice Department's evolving position that a presidential pardon for a Kentucky man who stormed the Capitol also covers his conviction for illegally possessing guns at his home.

Investigators seized six guns and roughly 4,800 rounds of ammunition when they searched Wilson's home in June 2022.

At the heart of the controversy is the vague language of Trump’s mass pardons for Jan. 6 rioters. He granted clemency to anyone “convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

The department has increasingly taken the position that criminal behavior discovered during an investigation stemming from a suspect’s role in the Capitol attack is in fact related to Jan. 6.

President Trump's sweeping pardons for January 6th rioters did not end all of their legal issues. A federal judge grilled the Department of Justice on whether the pardon covers one defendant's separate gun case.

President Donald Trump's administration is pulling back on specifics for its pardons for Jan. 6 defendants after attacks of overly broad pardons that could include crimes like conspiracy to commit murder,