Washington — President Trump on Monday granted clemency to approximately 1,500 defendants convicted of crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, fulfilling a long-standing promise to absolve those involved in the attack on the United States Capitol of wrongdoing.
The president’s action comes on his first day back at the White House, just hours after being sworn in for a second term.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly tried to downplay the events of January 6, when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from reaffirming Joe Biden’s victory over him in the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Trump granted clemency to those convicted of violent and serious crimes, such as assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy.
He also directed the attorney general to dismiss all pending indictments related to the Capitol riot, effectively ending the Biden Justice Department’s massive effort to hold those involved in the assault accountable.
“These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a full pardon,” Mr. Trump stated from the Oval Office. “This is a big one.”
The president expressed his hope that those who remain incarcerated will be released immediately. His clemency includes six commutations, he said, but the White House proclamation lists 14 people and reduces their sentences to time served.
“These people have been destroyed,” he told them. “What they’ve done to these people is appalling. There has rarely been anything like it in our country’s history.
Mr. Trump described the judges overseeing cases related to the Jan. 6 attack and the prosecutors who brought charges as “brutal.”
According to the Justice Department, more than 1,600 people were charged as a result of their alleged conduct on January 6, and at least 1,100 of them have had their cases adjudicated and sentenced. Over 700 defendants completed their sentences or were not sentenced to incarceration.
Prosecutors have charged more than 170 people with using a deadly or dangerous weapon against police officers, such as a fire extinguisher or bear spray.
According to the Justice Department, approximately 300 prosecutions against previously charged defendants are still pending. Nearly 60% were charged with felony offenses such as assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement or obstructing those officers during a civil disorder.
Many of the defendants on Jan. 6 were charged with nonviolent misdemeanors, but some faced more serious charges, such as conspiring to use force to resist the transfer of power.
However, Mr. Trump’s action appears to be broad; among those expected to be pardoned is Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right group the Proud Boys, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted in May 2023 of charges including seditious conspiracy, according to his lawyer, Nayid Hassan. It is unclear whether he will be granted a pardon or have his sentence commuted.
Who had their sentences commuted?
Trump commuted the sentences of more than a dozen people, according to his proclamation, including:
- Stewart Rhodes: The founder of the far-right group the Oath Keepers who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other crimes;
- Kelly Meggs: the leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers who was sentenced to 12 years behind bars;
- Kenneth Harrelson: A member of the Oath Keepers who was convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and other charges and was sentenced to four years in prison;
- Thomas Caldwell: Another Oath Keepers member who was sentenced to time served;
- Jessica Watkins : a member of the Oath Keepers who was sentenced to 8.5 years of incarceration;
- Roberto Minuta: An Oath Keepers member convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 54 months in prison;
- Edward Vallejo: Another Oath Keepers member who received a three-year sentence after he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy;
- David Moerschel: An Oath Keepers member convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to three years incarceration;
- Joseph Hackett: A member of the Oath Keepers who was sentenced to 42 months in prison after he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy
- Ethan Nordean: One of the leaders of the Proud Boys who received a sentence of 18 years in prison after he was convicted of seditious conspiracy;
- Joseph Biggs: A Proud Boys leader who was sentenced to 17 years in prison;
- Zachary Rehl: Another Proud Boys leader, was sentenced to 15 years in prison;
- Dominic Pezzola : A Proud Boys member sentenced to 10 years in prison and was seen on video smashing a Capitol window with a riot shield;
- Jeremy Bertino: A Proud Boys member who entered a guilty plea to seditious conspiracy.
The pardons bring to an end a remarkable series of events that have unfolded in the aftermath of the 2020 election, when Mr. Trump allegedly plotted to overturn the results in order to retain power for a second term, according to federal prosecutors and House investigators.
That plot culminated in the Jan. 6 attack, according to investigators, after the president spent weeks sowing doubt about the integrity of the 2020 election and urging his supporters to “fight like hell” and “stop the steal.”
The Justice Department reported that more than 140 police officers were assaulted during the Capitol riot. According to the department, the riot resulted in losses of more than $2.8 million, including damage to the building and grounds.
However, four years after allegedly attempting to disrupt the transfer of power, Mr. Trump has returned to the White House by defeating former Vice President Kamala Harris. In one of her final acts as vice president, she presided over this year’s joint session, which confirmed Mr. Trump’s victory.
Keeping Mr. Trump’s promise to grant reprieves to those charged in connection with the riot, several defendants sought to postpone court proceedings in their cases following the election.
According to the Constitution, the president has sole authority to issue pardons for federal offenses; however, presidents typically consult with the Justice Department’s pardon attorney when considering clemency requests.
Pam Bondi, the president’s nominee for attorney general, was asked during her confirmation hearing last week if she thought Jan. 6 defendants convicted of assaulting law enforcement should be granted clemency, and she said she would review each case and advise “on a case-by-case basis” if the president asked her to.
“I condemn any violence on a law enforcement officer in this country,” she elaborated.
Mr. Trump’s decision is expected to enrage police officers who were injured during the Jan. 6 attack and testified before the House select committee that investigated the riot in 2022, as well as committee members who are no longer in Congress.
Meanwhile, judges on the federal district court in Washington, where the Jan. 6 cases were filed, have continued to resist efforts to downplay the gravity of what happened more than four years ago in the eyes of the public.
“No matter what happens with the Capital Riots cases that have already been concluded or are still pending, the true story of what happened on January 6, 2021 will never change,” Senior Judge Royce Lamberth, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, said during a December sentencing.
According to Lamberth, “just as the president must make decisions on matters of clemency without interference from the coordinate branches, so too must our judiciary independently administer the laws and sentence convicted offenders.”
Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked those who investigated the Jan. 6 assault and threatened to punish his political opponents, including former special counsel Jack Smith and members of the House select committee that looked into the incident.
In anticipation of possible retaliation from Mr. Trump, Biden preemptively pardoned members of the Jan. 6 select committee and its staff, as well as Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the panel, during his final hours in office.
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