5m
21 Jan 2025

Trump pardons 1,500 people involved in January 6th riots

Washington Correspondent

The former leader of the extremist Proud Boys group and the founder of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers – have been released from prison as part of President Trump’s sweeping clemency for those convicted over the violent January 6th attack on Capitol Hill.

Both men had been handed lengthy sentences for seditious conspiracy – but the new narrative depicts the rioters as victims.

In the veritable blitz of executive orders and announcements from the Trump White House on day one, one particularly stood out.

For everyone knew that President Trump planned to pardon January 6th offenders, but no one quite expected him to pardon them all. Every single one of them. All 1,500 convicted and indicted criminals, including those who – by any measure – deserved to serve time behind bars for their crimes.

Yet there we were on Monday night, with family members outside the prison in Washington DC, waiting for some of those very same people to be allowed to walk free.

And with the stroke of his sharpie pen, Donald Trump did exactly that, branding those held inside the jail not as prisoners but “hostages.”

January 6th 2021, just for the record, was one of the worst attacks on American democracy since the Civil War. The day a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol to try and upend the certification of Joe Biden as president because they believed the election had been rigged.

The sweeping pardons not only covered people involved in non violent crimes, like trespassing on government property but also violent offenders who assaulted police officers as well as commutations to end the sentences of 14 far-right extremists.

Five people died within days of the attack and more than 170 police officers were injured.

Yet Trump – who was indicted in relation to January 6th – has always sought to reframe the riot, instead calling it a day of love.

During his campaign he promised to pardon those involved and in doing so on Inauguration Day, he took another step in rewriting history.

Outside the jail they relayed the news to prisoners inside. Among the crowd, we stood next to Eric Ball as he spoke on the phone to his son Daniel. With emotions raw and tears streaming down his face, he told us about the prospect of seeing his son again.

“I’m overwhelmed, it’s all over, the long nightmare is about over,” Eric told us. And his message to Donald Trump? “We love him, I’ve been a supporter, I was there on January 6, and we were protesting a stolen election that’s what it was all about” – a belief he still holds onto.

Eric called the rioters on January 6th some of the “nicest people you’ve ever met” who “you’d trust your kids with.”

Daniel was convicted on 12 counts including assault and setting off an explosive device during a long battle with police in one of the Capitol’s tunnels.

We also met the Reffitt sisters, Sarah and Peyton, who told us about their father, Guy Reffitt, who was sentenced to more than seven years for his role on January 6th including carrying a firearm.

They spoke with elation about the prospect of seeing their dad again.

Sarah Reffitt said: “I’m so ready to see him, ready to hug him, I’ve been waiting a very, very long time. I’m just super excited, ready to go get him and take him home. I miss him so much, I can talk to him on the phone and see him through glass but I’ll finally be able to hug him. I’ve not been able to hug him in almost five years, so I’m ready, I’m very, very ready.”

Peyton Reffitt spoke with candour about her father being held accountable for what he did, but said a sentence of more than seven years was too long.

“He needs to feel accountability for certain things that were not okay to say, but I love him, he’s a great father to all of us and he’s a good person, and he meant good, he meant well in his heart, he went there for good reasons, good intentions. He said certain things that were not okay, I didn’t like hearing him say that and he should be accountable for that,” she said.

Meanwhile Democrats on Capitol Hill were visibly shocked by Trump’s move and even many Republicans were at pains to find a form of words to respond to journalists’ questions. “I haven’t seen the details of the pardons yet so I can’t comment,” was the common refrain.

Democrat Senator Chris Murphy said he was “stunned at the scope of those pardons, 1,500 people, some of whom engaged in violence will never be held accountable for their crimes, it basically guarantees that that will happen again.”

And Trump’s own Vice President indicated back in May that those who committed serious crimes should pay a price.

“If you beat up a cop, of course you deserve to go to prison. If you violated the law you should suffer the consequences,” JD Vance told our US affiliate partner CNN.

But some of those released in the last 24 hours did “beat up cops” and worse.

As of November, more than 1,500 people had been federally charged. Nearly 600 with assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police. Of those, nearly 170 were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.

Michael Fanone was one of those officers – he was dragged into the mob on January 6th and beaten so hard he had a heart attack and nearly died.

“Oh, I, I have been betrayed by my country. Rest assured, I, I have been betrayed by my country – 6 individuals who assaulted me as I did my job on January 6th, as did hundreds of other law enforcement officers will now walk free,” Fanone told CNN after news of the pardons was released.

And it’s not just those who assaulted officers: even criminals like Enrique Tarrio, the head of the notorious Proud Boys who was serving 22 years for the most serious crime of all – plotting to overthrow the US government on January 6th, will also now walk free.

Just like his fellow militiamen parading through Washington DC on day one of Trump’s new America.