Trump Pardons Capitol Rioters, Even Most Violent
Proud Boys and Oath Keepers insurrectionists are now free.

NYT (“Trump Grants Sweeping Clemency to All Jan. 6 Rioters“):
President Donald J. Trump, in one of his first official acts, issued a sweeping grant of clemency on Monday to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, issuing pardons to most of the defendants and commuting the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia, most of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Mr. Trump’s moves amounted to an extraordinary reversal for rioters accused of both low-level, nonviolent offenses and for those who had assaulted police officers.
And they effectively erased years of efforts by federal investigators to seek accountability for the mob assault on the peaceful transfer of presidential power after Mr. Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. As part of his pardon order, Mr. Trump also directed the Justice Department to dismiss “all pending indictments” that remained against people facing charges for Jan. 6.
Sitting in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said he hoped that many of the defendants could be released from prison as early as tonight.
“They’ve already been in jail for a long time,” he said. “These people have been destroyed.”
The pardons Mr. Trump issued — “full, complete and unconditional,” he wrote — will touch the lives of about 1,000 defendants accused of misdemeanors like disorderly conduct, breaching the Capitol’s restricted grounds and trespassing at the building. Many of these rioters have served only days, weeks or months in prison — if any time at all.
The pardons will also wipe the slate clean for violent offenders who went after the police on Jan. 6 with baseball bats, two-by-fours and bear spray and are serving prison terms, in some cases of more than a decade.
Moreover, Mr. Trump pardoned Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, who was serving a 22-year prison term after being convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy — a crime that requires prosecutors to prove that a defendant used violent force against the government.
A representative for Mr. Tarrio said he had been released from a federal prison in Louisiana and was expected to return to Miami, his hometown, by Tuesday afternoon.
CNN (“Trump commutes sentences of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders as he pardons over 1,000 January 6 US Capitol rioters“) adds:
The “full, complete and unconditional” pardons extend to people who were convicted of some of the worst crimes committed the day of the Capitol attack.
That group includes individuals like Julian Khater, who assaulted US Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick and later pled guilty to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon; Devlyn Thompson, who hit a police officer with a metal baton; and Robert Palmer, a Florida man who attacked police with a fire extinguisher, a wooden plank and a pole.
More than 140 police officers were injured during the seven-hour siege, which also led directly and indirectly to the deaths of four Trump supporters in the mob and five police officers.
Late Monday night, two brothers convicted for their roles in the attack on the US Capitol were released from a DC jail, hours after Trump issued the sweeping set of pardons.
Andrew Valentin and Matthew Valentin, who both pleaded guilty in September to assaulting police and were each sentenced last week to two-and-a-half years in prison, walked out of the DC Central Detention Facility Monday night, according to Paul Ingrassia, who identified himself to reporters as the Trump White House’s liaison to the Justice Department.
“The first two January 6 defendants have been released,” Ingrassia told reporters gathered outside the jail. CNN previously reported that Matthew Valentin had tried to tear a baton from a police officer on January 6, and Andrew Valentin threw a chair at a police line.
[…]
About 55% of January 6 prosecutions are misdemeanor cases, with charges like disorderly conduct or trespassing, according to Justice Department data. For those convicted, the vast majority were sentenced to probation or a few months in prison and were already released.
Some defendants are elderly people who got caught up in the frenzy. Others went inside the Capitol for a handful of minutes but never attacked anyone or vandalized anything. Most have no criminal record. A large chunk of the people in the mob said they never intended to infiltrate the Capitol, let alone disrupt Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results. Some believe they were waved into the building by police.
This is shameful.
Once the dust settled on January 6, I began arguing that, rather than a simple insurrection—my initial instinct after watching the horror unfold on television and, indeed, that of Mitch McConnell and other prominent Republicans—it was a series of overlapping events. There was indeed a violent attempt to overturn a free and fair election, organized and instigated by white nationalist groups, with the groundwork laid by Trump and others on his team. But there were people who simply got caught up in a mob and others still, who were essentially tourists.
I’ve argued for treating these groups differently in terms of how they were prosecuted and punished. As best I can tell, that mostly happened. As is inevitable in a justice system run by humans, some judges and prosecutors treated like offenses more harshly than others.
To the extent Trump sees those who arrived in DC to attend his rally and then got caught up in the adrenaline as allies who have been prosecuted in a politically-motivated manner, I can at least see an argument for pardoning them so that they can resume productive lives without the stain of a felony conviction.
But it is beyond outrageous for the nation’s chief law enforcement officer to pardon men who planned a violent insurrection. It is an insult to the Capitol Police officers who were killed and injured as a direct result of their plot. To say nothing of the Members of Congress who feared for their lives as an angry mob came in to stop them from executing their sworn duty.
Alas, Trump gave every indication that he would pardon the nonviolent offenders On Day One. The only real shocker is that clemency extended to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
Trump is pretty flexible about promises. Some he does keep, others not so much, it depends who benefits.
I’m still waiting for anything that will lower the price of gas and eggs.
Clearly he only did this because Biden pre-emptively pardoned his family.
It’s worse than outrageous, it’s terrorism. It demonstrates that violence perpetrated in support of Trump and his allies will go unpunished.
It’s a license to commit crimes against Trump’s political enemies.
Many of the “patriots” who were convicted lost their jobs, and disgusted their friends and family members, and served sentences that were months more than years. Perhaps that’s enough punishment for trespassing and destroying property. But pardoning the thugs who attacked police, and the warrior wannabes who plotted January 6th as a military op, is beyond the pale. It’s an invitation to join the J6 2029 riot when Trump again refuses to leave office.
And why can’t the headline writers say what happened: Trump Puts Hundreds of Violent Criminals Back on the Street
Where can I find the report listing the specific injuries and deaths of the January 6 cops?
Does it include when the police teargassed themselves in a tunnel?
I hear Trump is considering a posthumous pardon for Adolf Hitler for war crimes at the recommendation of Elon Musk.
@Lucysfootball:
Donald Elizabeth trump was never convicted of anything, as far as I know, even posthumously. A preemptive pardon makes no sense, either.
But there’s Goering and the rest of the Nuremberg gang, not to mention Eichmann, and other beasts never found. He can add von Braun while he’s at it.
The signal is this: do violence on my behalf and I will pardon you.
That’s not problematic at all, now is it?
@Steven L. Taylor:
The signal has been this (for at least 4 years now): do crimes with an (R) behind your name and we will call it lawfare. If you’re particularly shameless about it, we will give you power.
All other signals are noise.
@drj:
It’s the Brownshirts re-forming.
I keep thinking Trump won’t go full fascist because it’s all kayfabe. But. He is genuinely and deeply racist. Most of fascism was about concentrating power, which he will tend to do. I keep forgetting my own adage that conservatives come to believe their own bullshit.
After Hitler came to power, they put up a monument to the Beer Hall Putsch and made the date of it a national holiday.
No reason I’m mentioning this. Just a stray thought …
@Paul L.:
You watched the videos. You saw it with your own eyes. Now I understand why some commenters have urged you to get help. Listen to them.
@drj:
And that was always Trump’s intent. That is why he is constantly menacing and threatening in his speeches. It is a function of his pathology. Democracy does not suit him. And he is not suited to lead a democracy.
@Rob1:
Which makes him a good fit for GOP voters, especially the GOP base and particularly the Christian Right – people who do not believe in or support democracy.
Releasing onto our streets the terrorist thugs who violently attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 will not lower crime or reduce grocery prices.
The Musk admin should stop catering to Nazis and criminals and start solving all the problems they promised to fix on Day One. It’s Day Two now.
@charontwo:
This x1000.
We must not make this just about Trump – everyone already knows he is bad. It’s just his awfulness serves the Trumpists’ purpose. His party and his base of voters have decided common ground, compromise, the Will of the Governed, and other democratic features are keeping them from getting the country they want. Moderation be damned – we’re going to force our preferences on you.
Rule of law is useful only as a means to drive political objectives. Otherwise, it is an impediment.
@Rob1:
I imagine Harry Dunn or Michael Fanone would be willing to talk some sense into him.
But this is not at all what JD Vance said. Just a week before the inauguration, per the AP,
In this new gig, maybe they’ll keep a short leash on the former professional intern to billionaire Peter Thiel.
@DK: Trump has already retreated on grocery prices to “it would be nice if prices went down; getting prices down is really hard.”
And the MAGAts will cheer that a dozen eggs is down to $4.75 with “I knew he could get prices back to normal.”
(For the record: the last time I paid over $3/dozen for eggs was when I was in Korea, where eggs sold for ~$5/10 eggs as the base price.)
@just nutha:
Just as long as the prices aren’t eggsessive?
😉
I’m a bit conflicted on this. Shouldn’t have let out the most violent few, but the rest seem to be gullible fools told by none less than the President of the United States that a coup was underway at the Capitol. Probably, after either being thrown in jail and/or having their lives up-ended by federal prosecution, a large majority of them are no menace to society. They learned the hard way that Trump is full of s!#t. Strike one, and they only get two because they are dolts.
Trump? It’s his fault they were in the can. I’d damn him about as much if he left them in there.
@Paul L.:
You may think it inappropriate for a non-American to offer an opinion.
If so, very well.
However, the events of January 6 2021 were really quite appalling.
A violent attempt to prevent the confirmation of an obviously lawful election.
(Not to mention the “protestor” parading the battle flag of the Confederacy through the Halls of Congress,)
Even if it caused no police deaths or injuries at all, exemplary punishment is obviously appropriate.
The protestors were very fortunate that the police were rather restrained. I guarantee you, in most European countries, including the UK, they would have faced a much more severe response.
@JohnSF:
The Jan 6 terrorists would have faced a more severe response here in the US too, had they not almost all been white Trumpers. Starting with being recognized everywhere as terrorists.
@dazedandconfused:
If only the violent ones were just a few. Investigative reporter and the author of Sedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice System, Ryan Reilly, has said in recent interviews that many violent offenders who were identified on video have yet to be arrested because of the pace and prioritization of investigations. The apparent slow walk of cases, or how some people half-ass their jobs, as he put it, means that many known individuals who committed assault that day, and others who participated in the seditious mob, will never be held to account in any way.