Source: Kayla Bartkowski / Getty
pardoned almost 1,500 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on
January 6, 2021, in an executive order, enraging many critics and observers online.
On
Monday (January 20), President Donald Trump issued a sweeping “full, complete, and unconditional” grant of clemency to nearly 1,500 individuals who were charged in connection with the insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The pardon also includes the commutation of the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia, some of whom had been convicted of committing a seditious conspiracy against the United States including Proud Boys leader
Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. Trump sat in the Oval Office of the White House and signed the executive order, which was apparently broadcast on live television. “They’ve already been in jail for a long time,” he said of the rioters. “These people have been destroyed.”
The pardon also covered those who violently attacked members of the Capitol Police on that day using flagpoles, a crutch, and a hockey stick, among other weapons, leaving almost 100 members injured afterward. The executive order effectively shut down the largest and longest prosecution effort of the Justice Department in its 155 years of existence. Many of those previously convicted have only served days and weeks of their sentences, with many still awaiting trial. Trump also directed the Department of Justice to dismiss the remaining 450 pending cases before federal judges. Officer Michael Fanone, who suffered cardiac arrest after an insurrectionist attacked him with a stun gun, was
taken aback at the news. “This is what the American people voted for,” he said. “How do you react to something like that?”
Trump had made freeing the insurrectionists a major campaign promise, often referring to them as “hostages” during his rallies across the country. He even referred to January 6 as a “day of love”. Family members of those rioters were jubilant at the news, with some celebrating their pardon in posts on social media. The family of Enrique Tarrio was even planning a cocktail party in Miami, Florida to celebrate, according to the
New York Times. Several critics and observers also expressed their outrage through social media. ”Hundreds of people convicted of assaulting police officers amid the storming of the U.S. Capitol are getting full pardons because Trump wanted them to succeed and appreciated the effort. Shame of a nation,” wrote Media Matters senior fellow Matthew Gertz in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
