‘This is a big one’: What will happen now Trump has pardoned Jan 6 rioters
Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys who was sentenced to 22 years in prison, was among those who received a pardon.
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It was Donald Trump’s first act upon returning to the White House.
Just hours after taking office, the Republican President made good on his election promise and granted pardons to 1,500 supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, including those charged with trespassing and assaulting police officers.
Mr Trump, who described the rioters as “hostages”, issued “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offences related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021”
The President also commuted the sentences of 14 members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers organisations, with their sentences are to be reduced to time served.
“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” the order reads.
Mr Trump also ordered that all pending criminal cases against Capitol riot defendants be dropped.
“This is a big one,” Mr Trump said as he signed the document in the Oval Office.
“We hope they come out tonight, frankly. We’re expecting it.”
When asked about showing clemency to those who assaulted police officers, Mr Trump said: “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.”
Mr Trump repeatedly pledged during his election campaign to pardon those who took part in the attack, calling them “patriots” and “political prisoners.”
A total of 1,583 people were charged in connection with riot, which saw over 2000 people storm the Capital a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The majority of charges were misdemeanours for entering the Capitol without permission, but others were convicted of violent felonies.
Over 140 police officers were injured in hours of clashes with rioters wielding flagpoles, baseball bats, hockey sticks and other makeshift weapons along with tasers and canisters of bear spray.
Who was pardoned?
Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, who was conceived of a seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison for directing a military-style assault on the Capitol, was among those who received a pardon.
An attorney for Tarrio told NBC News on Monday that his client was being processed for release from the medium-security federal prison FCI Pollock.
“He is being processed out,” attorney Nayib Hassan told the outlet.
Others who received pardons include those who were convicted of trespassing and disorderly conduct and those who assaulted police officers with poles and chemical spray.
When asked if anyone would not get clemency, Mr 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.”
Pardons don’t overturn convictions, however, they forgive offences and restore civil rights, including gun ownership or voting rights.
Convicted rioters who are on probation will have their probation ended early under a pardon.
Who had their sentences commuted?
Stewart Rhodes, the leader of far-right group the Oath Keepers, was among those who had their prison sentences cut shot.
Rhodes, who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy had his 18-year sentence commuted to time served.
Others include: Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers who was sentenced to 12 years, as well as other Oath Keepers members Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell and Jessica Watkins.
Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl, who were sentenced to 18, 17 and 15 years in prison respectively, also had their sentences commuted.
When will prisoners be released?
The proclamation directed the Bureau of Prisons to “immediately implement all instructions from the Department of Justice regarding this directive”.
As such, rioters behind bars could be released from prison as early as Monday night.
What has happened to others rioters who have already been released from prison?
700 defendants have already completed their prison sentences or never received one for their involvement in the January 6 riots, according to NBC News.
Some of those who have already spent time behind bars over the attack have gone on to pursue a number of endeavours, including releasing a book, launching a business and applying for law school since their release.
Daniel Christmann, who was arrested on misdemeanour charges after entering the Capitol, was inspired by the lawyers working on his case to return to school and become a lawyer after serving his 25-day sentence.
The former plumber and New York State Senate candidate will graduate college in May and is currently applying to law school.
“I just felt like what went on in my case was so bizarre and unjust that I knew we needed more fighters like her,” Mr Christmann told the New York Times, referring to a federal defender who helped him.
Jacob Chansley, the man made famous for storming the US Capitol wearing a bullhorn helmet, was released early from federal prison to a halfway house in March 2023.
Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman, was convicted of a felony count of obstruction and sentenced to 41 months in prison in November 2021, one of the longest terms handed down to any of the rioters.
The 37-year-old now spends his day creating art in Phoenix.
He told the New York Times, his life day-to-day life remains the same as before January 6, “other than I get more interviews now”.
Real estate broker and social media influencer Jenna Ryan has gone on to write a book Storming the Capitol: My Truth About January 6th following her 60-day prison term.
Ryan pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanour charge of illegally demonstrating inside the Capitol.
She said her book shows “how it feels to be caught in the middle of a polarised political climate, cancelled by society, surveilled by the F.B.I. and thrown in prison for a tweet”.
Pardons condemned
Former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the pardons, calling them “an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol.”
“It is shameful that the president has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power,” Pelosi said.
Special counsel Jack Smith charged Mr Trump with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
But the case never made it to trial, and ahead of the inauguration was dropped under the Justice Department’s policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
– With AFP
Originally published as ‘This is a big one’: What will happen now Trump has pardoned Jan 6 rioters
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