Trump said preparing to pardon people charged in Jan. 6 assault on US Capitol
US president reportedly seeking to commute sentences of rioters who attacked police, 4 years after mob called to hang then-vice president for certifying 2020 presidential election
US President Donald Trump is preparing to issue sweeping pardons to defendants charged in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and intends to cut short sentences for some people who attacked police, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.
The source did not give details about when Trump planned to do so.
The plan, first reported by ABC News, calls for pardoning those who did not commit violence during the riot at the Capitol, effectively wiping away legal consequences from their convictions.
Trump is also seeking to commute the sentences of some of those convicted of assaults on law enforcement, a move that would not absolve them of guilt but could lead to the release of some rioters currently in prison.
More than 1,580 people have been criminally charged with participating in the riot, a failed attempt by Trump supporters to block the congressional certification of the 2020 election.
Amid clashes with police, rioters broke into the Capitol building, some of whom chanted, “Hang Mike Pence,” referring to the then-vice president, who was participating in the certification, as mandated by the US Constitution.
Leaders of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers organizations are among those serving time in federal prison for their roles in the violence.
More than 600 people have been charged with assaulting or obstructing police during the riot, according to US Justice Department figures.
Trump vowed during his 2024 campaign to pardon many of those charged, arguing they had been treated unfairly by the legal system.
A report by a US House of Representatives committee published in 2022 into the riot described it as part of a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the results of the election.
In the two months between the election and the riot, the report said, “President Trump or his inner circle engaged in at least 200 apparent acts of public or private outreach, pressure, or condemnation, targeting either State legislators or State or local election administrators, to overturn State election results.”
In total, 187 minutes elapsed between the time Trump finished his speech to a crowd of supporters and his first effort to get the rioters to disperse, through an eventual video message in which he asked his supporters to go home even as he reassured them, “We love you. You’re very special.”
