1,500 defendants who were prosecuted for participating in the Capitol riot that took place on January 6, 2020 received pardons from President Donald Trump Monday night.
National Review explains the blanket pardon includes the roughly 900 defendants who were convicted on misdemeanor charges as well as the hundreds of others convicted of more serious offenses. Some 600 January 6 defendants were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding police, including almost 200 rioters who carried weapons.
Misdemeanor defendants were primarily charged for having trespassed in the Capitol without committing any violence or destruction and most received sentences of probation or home confinement.
Other defendants face charges for impeding police during a civil disorder such as pushing against police lines or used their bodies to interfere with law enforcement. Others faced charges related to destruction of government property or carrying firearms on Capitol grounds.
Trump announced that he will commute the sentences of 14 other defendants whose cases he said require more investigation. Vice President J.D. Vance clarified that Trump planned to look into each case. “I assure you, we care about people unjustly locked up. Yes, that includes people provoked and it includes people who got a garbage trial,” he said, referring to defendants’ complaints that they received unfair jury trials in liberal Washington, D.C.
National Review notes:
Several notable defendants, including Infowars host Owen Shroyer and Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffien, fall under this umbrella after pleading guilty to misdemeanors for approaching the threshold of the Capitol, even if they didn’t enter the building.
A handful of defendants with criminal histories, or those who showed a lack of remorse or who violated their pretrial conditions of release have served jail time of up to one year.