Trump said to plan blanket pardons for Jan. 6 defendants on Day 1
On the day he returned to the White House, Trump was said to weigh clemency grants to virtually all supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
President
Donald Trump is poised to pardon all nonviolent
Jan. 6 defendants and commute the sentences of most or all of those convicted of the most serious charges, according to people briefed on the plans. The plans could change before the pardons are announced.
Declining a case-by-case review sought by some top advisers, Trump would grant some form of clemency to virtually everyone prosecuted by the Justice Department, from the plotters imprisoned for seditious conspiracy and felons convicted of assaulting police officers to those who merely trespassed on the restricted grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.
The department would also dismiss cases about 300 cases that have not yet gone to trial, including people charged with violent assaults, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss pending plans.
Trump had repeatedly promised the pardons before and after voters returned him to office in November, as early as “the first nine minutes” of taking office, he
told Time magazine.
Overall, more than 1,580 defendants have been charged and more than 1,270 convicted in the Capitol riot investigation, on charges ranging from misdemeanor parading to seditious conspiracy. More than 700 of 1,100 people sentenced so far have received no prison time or have completed their sentence, and would receive limited immediate impact from a Trump pardon.
