It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
President Trump’s pardons in the Jan. 6 case abruptly ended the most complex investigation in U.S. history. It also raised questions about what he will do next against a department he has said is full of his enemies.
Dozens of people with ties to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol gathered outside the detention facility in Washington to celebrate Trump’s pardons of those convicted of crimes that day.
He issued formal pardons to more than 1,550 rioters charged with a wide range of crimes and commuted the sentences of 14 members of far-right groups.
The move, in effect, validated the far-right leader’s defiant claim that his criminal prosecution was a kind of political persecution.
The extraordinary pardons and commutations extended to those who committed both violent and nonviolent crimes on Jan. 6, including assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy.
President Trump’s grant of clemency to those who assaulted the Capitol in his name four years ago clashed with his predecessor’s decision to shield from retribution those who had sought to hold him to account.
Officer Daniel Hodges said he had come to grips with the idea that his professional duty now required him to protect a man whose supporters beat him, kicked him and tried to gouge his eyes out in 2021.
At least eight rioters who have faced criminal charges have been granted permission to attend. Most were accused of relatively minor offenses.
The large domed expanse, a breathtaking and solemn space in the Capitol, was the scene of mayhem wrought by Trump supporters four years ago. A very different crowd of his backers will be on hand Monday.
Donald Trump is returning to the White House vowing to seek retribution. Those in his sights are worried both about him — and his supporters.