Trump’s pardon will give the defendants almost everything they want on January 6

As of Monday, even some of Donald Trump’s team had They don’t seem to believe that January 6, 2021 will release all those arrested in the riots at the US Capitol.

“If you committed violence that day, you should not be excused,” Vice President JD Vance said a little over a week ago.

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

“I do not agree with any attack on any police officer,” she said, adding that she was willing to look into more than 1,500 cases of violence individually.

On his first day in office, however, Trump took a more open-minded approach to the issue.

He issued a series of handouts and cold pardons that effectively freed all the perpetrators of the riots and canceled the largest criminal investigation in American history.

His executive order on Monday did away with almost everything the rioters and their supporters had been asking for, including monetary compensation from the government that some prisoner groups had demanded.

“These people are destroyed,” Trump said after signing the order. “What they did to these people is outrageous. Nothing like this happens very often in our country’s history.”

There were scenes of jubilation at the Washington, D.C., jail where several of those arrested in the riots are being held, as well as on social media run by the defendants and their supporters.

Proud Boyz leader Enrique Tario’s mother Released on Tuesdayshe has been posting regular updates about her son.

“Our president brought my son and all the J6ers back to life!” Zuni wrote after learning that Tario would be freed from a 22-year sentence. “You can live again! Breathe fresh air again! Feel the sun again!”

One of those released from a Washington, D.C. prison on Tuesday was Rachel Powell, from Pennsylvania, who was sentenced to more than four years in prison for smashing a window in the Capitol with an ice ax.

Speaking outside prison, she told the BBC she would now be home in time for their son’s birthday and praised Trump for keeping his promises. “It’s been a bigger blessing to me than I thought,” she said.

Some observers, policy experts and lawyers representing rioters, were surprised by the scale of the president’s order.

“The general consensus was that we should be able to see the difference between those who committed violence and those who did not,” said Lisa Gilbert, president of a progressive nonprofit group that opposes the amnesty.

“Donald Trump ran for office on law and order, so it’s shocking and sad to see him take action to grant amnesty to criminals,” she said.

Fourteen people charged with more serious crimes had their sentences commuted — meaning their convictions will remain on the record, but they will still be released from prison.

The Justice Department said in its latest release that about 1,583 people had been arrested or convicted of violence-related crimes.

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

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

And any further investigations — the FBI was looking for at least 13 suspects and fugitives — appear to be on hold.

In the final step of Trump’s move, he named Ed Martin as acting US attorney for Washington, D.C. — a prosecutor’s role primarily for prosecuting violent cases.

Martin organized a Trump rally the day before the shooting, and has been a vocal critic of the entire investigation.

On the campaign trail, Trump has made various statements about rioters, sometimes promising blanket pardons but occasionally showing interest in keeping some behind bars.

Supporters of the rioters cheered the pardon on Monday and described the sentencing of what they called “J6 hostages” and “political prisoners” as politically motivated and cruel.

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

“If we come together as a nation after such violence and people openly pick up weapons and kill each other… why are we starting to charge people with crimes after an afternoon of violence four years later?” he said.

But polls suggest that blanket amnesties, including for violent criminals, are unacceptable. The latest Associated Press survey It indicated that only two in ten Americans approve of the majority of pardons.

Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingyon, who was punched and pepper-sprayed that day, told The Newshor that the apology was a “slap in the face.”

“It’s truly unprecedented to know that these criminals who have been convicted by a jury of their peers and charged with crimes that have been largely exposed to the nation and the world, are walking free,” he said.

Trump explained why he chose to commute the 14 felons instead of granting them a full pardon. The list includes members of the far-right Pride Boys and the Oath Guard militia. Guardian leader Stuart 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 sworn guards in the days before the riots. The group hid the gun in a hotel room across the Potomac River in Virginia for trial evidence. Rhodes did not enter the Capitol but led the members from outside and was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2023.

Rhodes’ lawyer, James Lee Bright, told the BBC that people close to the case were also surprised by the broad nature of the amnesty and the speed with which prisoners were released.

“Our relationships with people close to the president were very tight even before the executive order,” he said.

Proud Boys’ former frontman Tario received a full pardon, although five other members of the group were on the rotating list. Tario was banned from the city that day and was not in the crowd. Instead, they talked to fellow Proud Boys from a hotel in nearby Baltimore.

After Rhodes’ arrest, the Oath Guards largely went on hiatus, but the Proud Boys continued to protest in the area, particularly among transgender activists and activists. Drag history clocks. The latter group was also in conflict between its established members and splinter groups pushing overtly white nationalist ideologies.

Wendy Via, founder of the Global Project on Hate and Extremism, said newly released militia members may try to resume their activities, bringing the largely disbanded far-right groups back into focus.

Dozens of Proud Boys marched through Washington on Monday to celebrate the inauguration.

“Will the Proud Sons start trying to woo the organization again like it was in 2021? That’s going to be a big question,” Ms Via said.

“The failure of these apologies is that Trump is sending a message that violence is the only tool for change as long as it is on his side,” she added.

With additional reporting from Regan Morris and Emma Vardy