President Donald Trump pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of all the individuals charged in relation to the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, amounting to over 1,500 people. This included individuals convicted of seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers. Trump used his clemency powers on his first day in office to undo the extensive prosecution stemming from the unprecedented attack on the American democracy.
Some of those to be released from prison were seen on camera engaging in violent attacks on law enforcement while lawmakers were in the process of certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Notably, leaders of extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in serious cases prosecuted by the Justice Department, will also have their sentences commuted. Additionally, Trump has directed the attorney general to pursue the dismissal of approximately 450 pending cases.
While the pardons were anticipated due to Trump’s efforts to downplay the events of January 6, which saw over 100 police officers injured and posed a threat to the peaceful transfer of power, the breadth of the clemency remains surprising. Coming shortly after Trump’s return to power, this move represents a significant undermining of the Justice Department’s attempts to hold individuals accountable for their actions during what has been referred to as one of the darkest days in the nation’s history.
Trump had suggested in the weeks leading up to his return to the White House that instead of blanket pardons, he would look at the Jan. 6 defendants on a case-by-case basis. Vice President JD Vance had said just days ago that people responsible for the violence during the Capitol riot “obviously” should not be pardoned.
Casting the rioters as “patriots” and “hostages,” Trump has claimed they were unfairly treated by the Justice Department that also charged him with federal crimes in two cases he contends were politically motivated. Trump said the pardons end “a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation.”
An attorney for Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, said he expects his client to be released from prison Monday night. Tarrio, who was convicted of orchestrating a failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 election, is serving the longest sentence of any of the Jan. 6 defendants.
The pardons come weeks after Trump’s own Jan. 6 case was dismissed because of the Justice Department’s policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Had Trump lost the 2024 election, he may have ultimately stood trial in the same federal courthouse within view of the Capitol where Jan. 6 cases have been playing out over the last four years.
More than 1,200 people have been convicted in the riot, including approximately 250 people convicted of assault charges.
Hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants who didn’t engage in any of the violence and destruction were charged with misdemeanor trespassing offenses, and many of those served little to no time behind bars.
But the violence that day has been documented extensively through videos, testimony and other evidence showing rioters — some armed with poles, bats and bear spray — swarming the Capitol, quickly overrunning overwhelmed police, shattering windows and sending lawmakers and aides running into hiding.
Police were dragged into the crowd and beaten. One officer screamed in pain as he was crushed in a doorframe, and another suffered a heart attack after a rioter pressed a stun gun against his neck and repeatedly shocked him. Officers have described in testimony fearing for their lives as members of the mob hurled insults and obscenities at them.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the pardons “an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution.”
Of the more than 1,500 people charged, about 250 people have been convicted of crimes by a judge or a jury after a trial. At least 1,020 had pleaded guilty to crimes as of Jan. 1. Only two people were acquitted of all charges by judges after bench trials. No jury has fully acquitted a Capitol riot defendant.
More than 1,000 rioters have already been sentenced, with over 700 receiving at least some time behind bars. The rest were given some combination of probation, community service, home detention or fines.
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