Julio-Cesar Chavez, Andrew Goudsward, Jason Lange and Nathan Layne
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hundreds of Donald Trump supporters serving prison terms for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol were freed on Tuesday, after the new president pardoned more than 1,500 people, including some who were attacked by police officers.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said 211 people had been released from federal facilities following Trump’s order.
Trump’s sweeping pardon — which went further than his allies had indicated they expected — drew condemnation from mob-fighting police, their families and lawmakers, including some of the president’s fellow Republicans.
A majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s decision, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday.
Among those freed was Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the far-right group Oath Keepers, who was serving an 18-year sentence after being found guilty of plotting to use force to prevent Congress from confirming Trump’s defeat of Joe Biden in 2020.
“It’s redemption, but it’s vindication,” Rhodes told reporters outside a prison in Washington, where a crowd of Trump supporters waited for more prisoners to be released.
Rhodes, who did not enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, said he has no regrets and continues to believe Trump’s false claims that he lost the election due to fraud. Rhodes was released earlier in the day from a separate facility in Cumberland, Maryland, after Trump commuted his sentence.
Trump ordered a pardon for all those accused of the attack, when crowds of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn his election defeat. About 140 policemen were injured in the rampage, which caused the deputies to flee for their lives.
‘THE MAN WHO KILLED MY BROTHER’
Craig Sicknick, whose brother, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, was attacked during the riots and died of multiple strokes the next day, called Trump “pure evil” on Tuesday.
“The man who killed my brother is now the president,” he told Reuters.
“My brother died for nothing. Everything he did to try to protect the country, protect the Capitol – why did he bother?” Sicknick said. “What Trump has done is despicable and proves that the United States no longer has anything resembling a justice system.”
Trump’s order expanded from people who had only committed misdemeanors such as trespassing to those who served as ringleaders for the attack.
Nearly 60 percent of respondents in a two-day Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted immediately after Trump took office on Monday, said he should not pardon all Capitol defendants.
One of Trump’s fellow Republicans, Sen. Thom Tillis, said sparing rioters who attacked police sent the wrong message.
“I saw in my news clippings today a picture of the people who crushed that police officer. None of them should be pardoned,” Tillis told Reuters in a hallway interview. “You’re making this place less safe if you send a signal that officers could potentially be attacked and there are no consequences.”
Others welcomed Trump’s decision. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican, said she would offer tours of the Capitol to the defendants once they are released.
Among those freed earlier in the day was Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the far-right group Proud Boys.
Tarrio was not present at the Capitol on January 6, but was sentenced to 22 years, more than any other defendant, after being convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in planning the attack.
CAMPAIGN PROMISE
Trump’s pardons have gone further than many of his allies have signaled. Both Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s attorney general pick Pam Bondi have previously said they believe people who have committed violence will not be pardoned.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt defended the pardons, arguing without evidence that many of the convictions were politically motivated.
“President Trump campaigned on this promise,” she said on Fox News. “It should come as no surprise that he did it on the first day.”
More than 1,000 defendants pleaded guilty instead of going to trial, including 327 who pleaded guilty to felonies, according to Justice Department statistics.
One protester, Ashli Babbitt, was shot by police during the riots on January 6 as she tried to force her way into the chamber of the House of Representatives. Four police officers who responded that day later died by suicide.
Trump’s weren’t the only pardons on Monday: Outgoing President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned five members of his own family in his final hours in office, a move that followed last year’s pardon of Hunter Biden’s son, who was accused of tax fraud and illegal shopping firearms.
Republican Senator Susan Collins said both presidents had acted wrongly, calling it a “terrible day for our Justice Department.” Tillis also criticized Biden’s pardons.
Trump’s action closed the largest investigation in the history of the Justice Department, including more than 300 cases that were still pending. Prosecutors filed dozens of motions to dismiss the cases Tuesday morning, federal court records show.
THE TRIAL COME TO A SUDDEN END
The trial of Kenneth Fuller and his son Caleb, who faced charges of obstructing police during the civil unrest, ended abruptly in Washington on Tuesday.
Federal judges in Washington — including some Trump appointees — have handled Capitol riot cases for years and expressed concern about the day’s events. At a November hearing, Trump-nominated U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said a Jan. 6 general pardon would be “more than frustrating or disappointing,” according to a court transcript.
The judge presiding over Fullers’ trial, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, ordered the dismissal without a hearing, noting that her ruling satisfied what she called Trump’s edict.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Caleb Fuller, 22, said he and his parents drank a bottle of champagne in their hotel room after hearing Trump’s decision Monday night.
Fuller said he did not witness any violence during the riots.
“I didn’t see anybody hurt,” he said. “I feel that everyone who was around me deserves a pardon.”
