A White House Justice Department liaison officer announces that two Jan 6 rioters have been released, outside the Central Detention Facility in Washington on Monday. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of nearly all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the US Capitol riot on Jan 6, 2021, including people convicted of seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers.
Trump's action, just hours after his return to the White House, paves the way for the release from prison of dozens of people found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican in power after he lost the 2020 election to former president Joe Biden.
The pardons are a culmination of Trump's years long campaign to rewrite the Jan 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured as the angry mob of Trump supporters — some armed with poles, bats and bear spray — overwhelmed law enforcement, shattered windows and sent lawmakers and aides running into hiding.
Trump also ordered the attorney general to seek the dismissal of roughly 450 cases that are still pending before judges stemming from the largest investigation in the Justice Department's history.
'Process of reconciliation'
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 will end "a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years" and begin "a process of national reconciliation".
The pardons were met with elation from Trump supporters and lawyers for the Jan 6 defendants. Trump supporters gathered late on Monday in the cold outside the Washington jail, where more than a dozen defendants were being held before the pardons.
"We are deeply thankful for President Trump for his actions today," said James Lee Bright, an attorney who represented Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was serving an 18-year prison sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes.
It's unclear how quickly the defendants may be released from prison. An attorney for Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, said he expected them to be released from prison on Monday night.
Democrats slammed the move to extend the pardons to violent rioters, many of whose crimes were captured on camera and broadcast on live TV. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it "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".
"Donald Trump is ushering in a Golden Age for people that break the law and attempt to overthrow the government," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in an emailed statement.
Michael Fanone, a former police officer who lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun, appeared stunned to learn from an Associated Press reporter that those who assaulted police officers are among the pardon recipients.
Fanone said he has spent the past four years worried about his safety and the well-being of his family. Pardoning his assailants only compounds his fears, he said.
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.
And Vice-President JD Vance had said just days ago that people responsible for the violence during the Capitol riot "obviously" should not be pardoned.
Agencies Via Xinhua
