US President Donald Trump says he is pardoning about 1,500 of his supporters who have been charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, using his sweeping clemency powers on his first day back in office to dismantle the largest investigation and prosecution in Justice Department history.
The pardons were expected after Trump’s years-long campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured and threatened the peaceful transfer of power. Yet the scope of the clemency still comes as a massive blow to the Justice Department’s effort to hold participants accountable over what has been described as one of the darkest days in American history.
Trump says he is also commuting the sentences of six defendants, though the White House does not immediately provide further details.
Trump had suggested in the weeks leading up to his return to the White House that he was going to look at the Jan. 6 defendants on a case-by-case basis. Vice President JD Vance had said just days ago that people responsible for violence during the Capitol riot “obviously” should not be pardoned.
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
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