President Donald Trump on Monday gave full pardons or commutations to thousands of his supporters who were convicted over the January 6th insurrection, including violent rioters — a direct contrast to statements from current and likely incoming members of his administration.
“If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” JD Vance, the new vice president, said in a January 12 interview amid the prospect of pardons.
“I’m not going to speak for the president, but the president does not like people that abuse police officers either,” Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, who would have been responsible for overseeing the remaining January 6th criminal cases, said during her confirmation hearing.
“You can’t put a blanket approach,” Kristi Noem, his nominee for Homeland Security secretary, said in an interview.
In an executive order Monday evening — in one of his first acts as president — Trump fully pardoned about 1,500 of his supporters who were convicted over January 6th. He also commuted the sentences of 14 others who committed violent crimes, such as assaulting police officers.
Trump’s order freed several far-right leaders who orchestrated the attack on the Capitol, including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who got an 18-year prison sentence. Trump went further with Tarrio, giving him a full pardon. President Joe Biden’s Justice Department deemed Tarrio to be the ringleader of the plot to violently ensure Trump stayed in office. He wasn’t at the January 6th attack itself — he was arrested two days earlier in a separate case.
