WASHINGTON — President Trump issued pardons Monday night to hundreds of participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — staying true to his promise to grant clemency to people involved in halting the counting of Electoral College votes that day.
Trump, 78, signed what he said was “approximately 1,500” pardons after returning to the White House from a day of inaugural festivities, telling reporters present that “I hope they come out tonight.”
The newly sworn-in 47th president said he issued “six commutations” in addition to the pardons and declined to answer if any beneficiaries had assaulted police.
“I will say this, they’ve been in jail for a long time already. I see murderers in this country get two years, one year and maybe no time. So they’ve already been in jail for a long time. These people have been destroyed. What they’ve done to these people is outrageous,” Trump said.
“Even people that were aggressive, and in many cases, I believe they happen to be outside agitators. But what do I know? But I think they were. I think they were outside agitators. They were outside agitators. And obviously, the FBI was involved.”
The Justice Department criminally charged 1,575 people in connection with the riot, which broke out after Trump, while serving the final days of his first term, told thousands of supporters that the 2020 election was being “stolen” from him.
Asked if anyone would not get clemency, Trump said, “the commutations would be the ones, and we’ll take a look, and maybe it’ll stay that way, or it’ll go to a full pardon.
The orders require the Federal Bureau of Prisons to immediately release the inmates.
A mob of supporters of President Donald Trump fight with members of law enforcement at a door they broke open as they storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, January 6, 2021. Reuters.
“They’ve been treated very unfair. The judges have been absolutely brutal. The prosecutors have been brutal. And nobody’s ever treated people in this country like that,” Trump said on the first day of his second term.
The 45th and 47th president, whom the House of Representatives impeached seven days after the riot for allegedly inciting the mob, said participants were treated unfairly compared to people who committed crimes during anti-police riots in 2020.
“What happened in Seattle where they took over a big portion of the city? What happened in Portland, where they burned out of the city every day and people died? Nothing happened to anybody, but they go after these people violently,” he said.
“It’s Washington, DC. People go into a trial and they say, ‘I have a wonderful lawyer, and I didn’t do anything wrong.’And they end up in shackles almost immediately and jail. No, we’re not going to let it happen.”
Trump announced the plan before returning to the White House, telling thousands of supporters at an event that served as a stand-in for the traditional inaugural parade, “We’re going to go to the Oval Office, we’re going to release our great hostages that didn’t do — for the most part, they didn’t do stuff wrong.”
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