Donald Trump pardons nearly 1,600 defendants from Jan. 6, keeping campaign pledge and outraging critics
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people Monday charged in the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021, fulfilling a campaign pledge critics said would "endorse attacks on democracy."
That figure would represent almost all of the nearly 1,600 people who were charged in the riot by the fourth anniversary Jan. 6, according to the Justice Department. About 1,270 had been convicted and 1,100 had been sentenced by that point, the department said.
"These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon. Full pardon," Trump said in the Oval Office. "This is a big one. We hope they come out tonight.”
Trump's proclamation provided a "full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol" on Jan. 6.
Nayib Hassan, a lawyer for Enrique Tarrio, who received the longest sentence of 22 years for seditious conspiracy as a leader of the far-right Proud Boys gang, said he wasn't sure if Tarrio got a pardon or commutation.
The list of those receiving clemency included 14 people receiving commutations to end their sentences, including top members of two militia groups, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Stewart Rhodes, who was leader of the Oath Keepers, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy. Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys, who was credited with being the first to break a window on the Senate side of the Capitol for others to scramble through, got a 10-year sentence.
Rhodes' lawyer, Ed Tarpley, said he was expecting to be released Monday night.
"We're excited about it," Tarpley told Paste BN. "This is an answered prayer and we're all very happy."
Others were Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola and Jeremy Bertino.
About 1,270 people have been convicted from charges associated with the riot. More than 1,000 pleaded guilty and 260 were convicted at trials. The guilty pleas included 327 people admitting felonies and 682 people admitting misdemeanors.
About 600 people were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement. Among those who pleaded guilty, 172 admitted assaulting law enforcement, 130 admitted obstructing law enforcement during a riot and 69 admitted assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was House speaker during the riot, said Trump had pardoned and shortened sentences for people “who violently attacked the Capitol and law enforcement officers on Jan. 6.”
“The President's actions are 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,” Pelosi said in a statement.
Key Trump allies in recent weeks had said they did not expect pardons of people who engaged in violence.
"The president does not like people who abuse police officers," Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee to become attorney general, told her Senate confirmation hearing last week.
Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News earlier this month: "If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned."
Trump pledged during campaign to pardon Jan. 6 defendants
Trump’s own federal charges were dropped after the won the election, under longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Special counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump's election subversion case nonetheless said there was enough evidence to convict him.
Trump has talked for years about pardoning Jan. 6 defendants he calls “political prisoners” and “hostages.”
“We’ll be looking very, very seriously at full pardons,” Trump told Pittsburgh broadcaster Wendy Bell in September 2022. “They’ve been so badly treated.”
In March 2023, he posted an all-caps message on social media: "LET THE JANUARY 6 PRISONERS GO."
Trump has said occasionally that he would only pardon nonviolent offenders.
"I am inclined to pardon many of them," Trump told CNN in 2023. "I can't say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control."
Contributing: Will Carless