Trump’s pardon gives the Jan. 6 defendants almost everything they wanted

Until Monday, even some of Donald Trump’s team did not believe that he would release all those arrested after the riots in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“If you committed violence that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” Vice President JD Vance said a little over a week ago.

A few days later, testifying before Congress, Trump agreed with a Democratic senator who asked attorney general candidate Pam Bondi to condemn the violence that day.

“I don’t agree with any violence against the police,” he said, adding that he was ready to look into more than 1,500 riot-related cases individually.

Trump, however, took a much broader view of the cases on his first day.

He granted few commutations and pardons, effectively freeing all the insurgents and eliminating the work of the largest criminal investigation in US history.

His executive order on Monday gave the rioters and their supporters almost everything they were asking for, except for government compensation demanded by some prisoner groups.

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

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

Mother of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was released on TuesdayHe has been posting regular updates about his son.

“Bring back the life our president gave my son and all J6ers!” Zuny Tarrio wrote after learning he would walk free from his 22-year sentence. “They can live again! Breathe the fresh air again! Feel the sunshine again!”

One of those released from a Washington DC prison on Tuesday was Rachel Powell of Pennsylvania, who was sentenced to more than four years in prison after smashing a Capitol window with a hatchet.

Speaking outside jail, she told the BBC she would be home in time for her son’s birthday and praised Trump for keeping his promise. “It’s a greater blessing to me than I could have ever imagined,” he said.

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

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

“Donald Trump ran for office on the basis of law and order, so it’s shocking and upsetting to see him take action to pardon violent criminals,” she said.

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

The Department of Justice, in its latest update, said approximately 1,583 people were arrested or charged with crimes related to the riots.

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

Most of those convicted have served their sentences, or have not received a prison sentence, but about 250 who are still in prison have begun to be released.

And it looks like further investigations (the FBI was still looking for at least 13 suspects and fugitives) will stop.

Underscoring the finality of his move, Trump appointed Ed Martin as acting US attorney in Washington, DC, the prosecutor’s office that has been primarily responsible for prosecuting the insurgency cases.

Martin organized a pro-Trump rally on the eve of the riot, and has been sharply critical of the entire investigation.

During the campaign, Trump made several statements about the insurgents, sometimes promising blanket pardons, but occasionally indicating that he might want to put some of them behind bars.

He was pardoned by rebel supporters on Monday, who have long described the sentences handed down to the people they call “J6 hostages” and “political prisoners” as harsh and politically motivated.

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

“If we came together as a country after such a violent act, and after people openly took up arms and killed each other … why were we still judging people four years later after an evening riot?” he said.

Surveys, however, suggest that internal forgiveness for violent offenders is not popular. One last Associated Press poll stated that only two out of ten Americans agree to forgive most of those involved.

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

“It’s truly unprecedented to know that a jury of their peers convicted them of these violent crimes that were made public for the whole country and the world to see,” he said.

In his executive order, Trump explained why he chose not to offer a full pardon to the 14 convicts. The list includes members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militias. Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was on the list and was released on Tuesday, his lawyer said.

Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper and Yale-educated lawyer, was brought to Washington by Oath Keepers in the days leading up to a riot. The group stashed the weapons in a hotel room across the Potomac River in Virginia, according to trial evidence. Rhodes did not enter the Capitol but led his members from outside, and in 2023 he was sentenced 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 with which the prisoners were released.

“Despite the relationships with people close to the president, they were very close” 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. Tarrio was not among the people that day, banned from the city. Instead, he communicated with the Proud Boys from a nearby Baltimore hotel.

After Rhodes’ arrest the Oath Keepers largely ceased operations, while the Proud Boys focused on local protests, particularly against transgender activists and drag storytimes. The latter group was also fraught with infighting between established members and splinter groups explicitly promoting white nationalist ideas.

Wendy Via, executive director and founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the newly released militias may try to continue their activities, bringing largely extinct far-right groups back into the spotlight.

On Monday, dozens of proud boys were seen marching around Washington to celebrate the inauguration.

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

“The result of these apologies is that Trump has sent the message that violence is a viable tool for change, as long as it’s in his favor,” he added.

With additional reporting from Regan Morris and Emma Vardy