Trump grants amnesty to all rebels on January 6

President Donald J. Trump, in one of his first official acts, issued a sweeping pardon on Monday for nearly all 1,600 people charged in the January 6 attack on the Capitol 2021, issued amnesty for most people. defendants and commuted the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia, most of whom were convicted of sedition. a conspiracy.

Mr. Trump’s attitude has changed dramatically for rioters accused of low-level, non-violent offenses and for those who have attacked police.

And they effectively derailed years of efforts by federal investigators to find those responsible for the public’s attack on the peaceful transfer of presidential power. nation after Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election. As part of his pardon order, Mr. Trump also ordered the Justice Department to drop “all charges pending” who is still facing charges on January 6.

Sitting in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said he hoped many of the defendants could be released from prison starting tonight.

“They have been in prison for a long time,” he said. “These people have been destroyed.”

Mr. Trump’s amnesty — “full, complete and unconditional,” he wrote — would affect the lives of about 1,000 defendants accused of crimes such as disorderly conduct, violating the a controlled area of ​​the Capitol and stormed into the building. Many of these rioters served only days, weeks or months in jail – if any time at all.

The amnesty will also be deleted for the perpetrators who went after the police on January 6 with baseball bats, two-by-fours and bear shots and in some cases for more than ten years.

In addition, Mr. Trump pardoned former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who served 22 years in prison after being convicted of conspiracy to commit treason — a crime that requires prosecutors to prove a defendant used excessive force against the government.

A representative for Mr. Tarrio said he had been released from a federal prison in Louisiana and was due to return to his hometown of Miami on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr. Trump’s actions drew immediate criticism, not least from the investigators who worked on the January 6 case.

“These amnesties say that if you commit violence, if you commit it on behalf of a politically powerful person, you can escape the consequences,” said Alexis Loeb, a former federal prosecutor who personally supervised many disturbing cases. “It is devastating – and a blow – to the sacrifices made by all the officers who put themselves in front of danger to protect democracy on January 6.”

In another move, Mr. Trump commuted the prison sentences of five other Proud Boys, some of whom had been convicted in the same trial as Mr. Tarrio. He also commuted the sentences of Oath Keeper militia leader Stewart Rhodes and eight of his associates.

In total, it wiped out 100 years in prison for 14 defendants, almost all of whom were convicted of complicity in the rebellion.

The two acts of mercy were greeted with jubilation on January 6 by several of the defendants, their families and activists who have worked on their behalf, seeking to push Mr Trump to release the broad version. especially. Many of the January 6 rioters have been riding high since Mr. Trump won the November election, convinced that he will come to their aid and pardon everyone involved. attack.

Last week, in fact, Mr. Tarrio’s family in Miami began planning a “cocktail event” to celebrate his pardon. Other defendants hired cars ahead of time to meet them outside their prisons or awaited Mr. Trump’s decision at a so-called pardon watch party, some of them making loud announcements. the court.

In addition to the impact of pardons and diversions on the lives of those who received them, they served Mr. Trump’s mission to rewrite the history of January 6. During his presidential campaign and after his election victory, he tried several times. dismiss the violent nature of the Capitol attack and frame it, falsely, as a “day of love.”

Mr. Trump’s move was essentially his bold move in seeking to recast his supporters — and himself — as victims, not perpetrators, on January 6. Democratic way in his way, Mr. Trump gave the president’s disagreement with the rioters who said that the accused were not properly charged, but instead the political prisoners were unjustly prosecuted.

As a matter of law, the pardons and diversions effectively derailed the Justice Department’s largest criminal investigation in 155 years. They dropped all the charges that had been filed and the sentences that were issued and prevented new cases from proceeding.

Starting almost at the time of the Capitol’s writing, investigators have spent more than four years securing access to thousands of phones and Google accounts, trawling through tens of thousands of hours of body camera footage. the police and surveillance cameras, and dropped tens of thousands. tips from ordinary citizens.

Their work has resulted in the prosecution of nearly 1,600 people in Federal District Court in Washington—across the Capitol itself. More than 600 of these defendants were charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement, many of whom carried weapons that included hockey sticks, firecrackers, canes and broken table legs.

More than half of the nearly 1,100 people convicted of crimes received short-term prison terms. Mr. Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, received the longest prison sentence of the defendants — 22 years. He was closely followed by Proud Boys member from California, David Dempsey, who attacked police with his hands, feet, poles, pepper spray and other weapons and was sent to prison. for 20 years.

Both sanctions will now be lifted, along with other sanctions against far-right leaders such as Mr. Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, who was imprisoned for 18 years for publishing the commutations.

The pardons and impeachments did not address separate but related questions about what Mr. Trump plans to do in continuing the Justice Department’s January 6 investigation.

Two weeks ago, department officials said prosecutors were still considering whether to file charges against 200 more people, including about 60 suspected of assaulting or obstructing police during the riots. And as recently as Friday, the trial in Washington for the defendants continued as usual on January 6.

Mr. Trump seems to have decided to grant some form of amnesty recently and after discussions among his advisers. Over the past few months, he has told different people different things about what he plans to do, sometimes saying that he would grant amnesty to perpetrators of violence, sometimes saying that he would spare those who did not commit violence. they are accused of committing a crime.

A few weeks ago, Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News that rioters who attack police may not be pardoned.

“If you were violent that day, of course you shouldn’t be forgiven,” Mr. Vance said, but added that “there’s a little bit of a gray area.”

Mr. Vance’s comments sparked almost immediate anger among many of the rioters.

“The J6 defendants are furious with JD Vance,” wrote Philip Anderson, who is accused of participating in a violent riot in a tunnel outside the Capitol, on social media. “All the J6 defendants need to be rescued.”

Mr. Vance tried to quickly repeat his words.

“I assure you that we care about people who are unjustly incarcerated,” he wrote on X. “Yes, that includes people who have been appointed and that includes people who have received junk judgments.”

David C. Adams SY Glenn Thrush contributed to the report.