Trump pardons give January 6 defendants almost everything they wanted

Until Monday, not even some members of Donald Trump’s team seemed to believe that he would release all those detained after the riots at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“If he committed violence that day, he obviously should not be forgiven,” Vice President JD Vance said a little more than a week ago.

A few days later, testifying before Congress, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, met with a Democratic senator who asked her to condemn the violence that day.

“I do not agree with violence against any police officer,” she said, adding that she was willing to individually examine each of the more than 1,500 riot-related cases.

Trump, however, took a much broader approach to the cases on his first day in office.

He issued a handful of commutations and a general pardon that effectively freed all the rioters and erased the work of the largest criminal investigation in American history.

His executive order Monday gave rioters and their supporters almost everything they had been asking for, except for the monetary compensation from the government that some prisoner groups have demanded.

“These people have been destroyed,” Trump said after signing the order. “What they have done to these people is scandalous. Something like this has rarely happened in the history of our country.”

There were scenes of celebration outside the Washington DC jail, where several of those arrested for the riot are being held, as well as on social media accounts run by the defendants and their supporters.

The mother of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio who was released on TuesdayHe has posted regular updates about his son.

“Our president brought my son and all the J6ers back to life!” Zuny Tarrio wrote after learning he would be released from his 22-year sentence. “They can live again! Breathe fresh air again! Feel the sunlight again!”

One of those released from the Washington DC jail on Tuesday was Rachel Powell of Pennsylvania, who was sentenced to more than four years in prison after breaking a Capitol window with an ice ax.

Speaking outside jail, he told the BBC he would now be home in time for his son’s birthday and praised Trump for keeping his promise. “He is a bigger blessing to me than I could ever imagine,” she said.

Some observers, including policy experts and lawyers representing rioters, were taken aback by the magnitude of the president’s order.

“The general consensus was that we would see a differentiation between those who committed violent acts and those who did not,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit group that opposed the pardons.

“Donald Trump ran for office based on law and order, so it’s shocking and disturbing to see him take steps to pardon violent criminals,” he said.

Fourteen people convicted of some of the most serious crimes have had their sentences commuted, meaning their crimes will remain on the record, but they will still be released.

The Justice Department, in its latest update, said approximately 1,583 people had been arrested or convicted for riot-related crimes.

More than 600 were charged with assaulting, resisting or obstructing police, including about 175 charged with using a weapon or causing serious injury to an officer.

Most of those convicted have served their sentences or received no jail time, but about 250 who are still in prison have begun to be released.

And it appears that any further investigation will be halted (the FBI was still searching for at least 13 suspects and fugitives).

Underscoring the sweeping finality of his move, Trump named Ed Martin acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., the prosecutorial role that has been primarily responsible for pursuing riot cases.

Martin organized a pro-Trump rally the day before the riot and has been a staunch critic of the entire investigation.

During the election campaign, Trump made several statements about rioters, sometimes promising blanket pardons but sometimes indicating that he might be inclined to keep some of them behind bars.

Supporters of the rioters applauded their blanket pardon Monday and have long described the sentences imposed on people they call “J6 hostages” and “political prisoners” as harsh and politically motivated.

Norm Pattis, a lawyer who defended some of the prisoners, told BBC Newshour that “the idea that somehow this event threatens the republic is overblown,” adding that Confederate rebels were pardoned after the Civil War.

“If we could come together as a country after such a violent act, and after people openly took up arms and killed each other…why were we still prosecuting people for home invasion four years later, after the riots of an afternoon?” said.

Polls, however, suggest that a blanket pardon that includes violent convicts is unpopular. A recent Associated Press Survey indicated that only two in ten Americans approve of pardoning the majority of those involved.

Winston Pingeon, a Capitol Police officer who was beaten and pepper-sprayed that day, told Newshour that the pardons were a “slap in the face.”

“It’s really unprecedented to know that these violent criminals who were convicted by a jury of their peers for crimes that were largely broadcast for the entire country and the world to see are going to walk free,” he said.

In his executive order, Trump explained why he decided to commute the 14 convicts instead of offering them full pardons. The list includes members of the far-right militias Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was on the list and was released early Tuesday, his lawyer said.

Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper and Yale-educated lawyer, led the Oath Keepers to Washington in the days before the riots. According to trial evidence, the group hid weapons in a hotel room across the Potomac River in Virginia. Rhodes did not enter the Capitol but led its members from outside, and was sentenced in 2023 to 18 years in prison.

Rhodes’ lawyer, James Lee Bright, told the BBC that even those close to the cases were surprised by the broad nature of the clemency action and the speed of prisoner releases.

“Despite our relationships with people close to the president, they were extremely secretive” before the executive order, Bright said.

Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, received a full pardon, although five other members of his group were on the commutation list. Tarrius was not among the crowd that day, as he had been banned from entering the city. Instead, he communicated with his fellow Proud Boys from a hotel in nearby Baltimore.

After Rhodes’ arrest, the Oath Keepers mostly ceased operations, while the Proud Boys focused on local protests, particularly against transgender activists and drag hours of history. This latter group was also plagued by infighting between established members and splinter groups pushing explicitly white nationalist ideas.

Wendy Via, executive director and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the newly freed militia members may try to continue their activities, putting far-right groups largely back in the spotlight. measure dissipated.

Dozens of Proud Boys were seen marching through Washington on Monday to celebrate the inauguration.

“Will the Proud Boys start trying to centralize the organization again, like they did in 2021? That’s going to be a big question,” Via said.

“The consequences of these pardons is that Trump has sent a message that violence is a viable tool for change, as long as it is on his side,” he added.

With additional reporting by Regan Morris and Emma Vardy