Posted on 01/20/25
| News Source: CNN
In one fell swoop, President Donald Trump ended all of the nearly 1,600 cases stemming from the January 6 US Capitol attack.
He signed a proclamation Monday pardoning nearly all 1,270 people convicted in the January 6 attack, directing the Justice Department to drop about 300 pending cases, and ordering the release of a small group of 14 other defendants who were charged in the most serious sedition cases. (Trump misspoke earlier tonight when he said the pardon would cover about 1,500 people.)
These actions go farther than many — including Trump’s own advisers and GOP allies — were expecting. Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson said in recent days that Trump should only pardon nonviolent offenders.
But the proclamation he signed, granting a “full, complete and unconditional pardon,” covers roughly 600 people with felony convictions for assaulting police officers or impeding police during a riot.
That group includes convicted rioters like Julian Khater, who assaulted US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and later pled guilty to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon; Devlyn Thompson, who hit a police officer with a metal baton; and Robert Palmer, a Florida man who attacked police with a fire extinguisher, a wooden plank and a pole.
Trump commuted the sentences for 14 of far-right extremists from the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who were convicted or charged with seditious conspiracy. The commutation will pave the way for their imminent release from prison, though the clemency isn’t as far-reaching as a pardon.
The order also directs the US attorney general to dismiss all pending cases, which would cover about 300 cases that are still pending in court.