Trump pardons Capitol offenders Violent offenders and right-wing extremists are now free again - doubts about the legal system
By pardoning all those convicted of the Capitol attack, Donald Trump shows that he is not afraid to break taboos. Violent criminals and right-wing extremists are now free again.
22.01.2025, 05:19
22.01.2025, 09:21
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- Shortly after the new US President Donald Trump pardoned all offenders of the Capitol attack, many convicts are free - and triumphant.
- In the first few hours after Trump's inauguration, prisoners convicted of involvement in the violent attack on the seat of Congress four years ago were released in various places across the country.
- They include people who brutally beat police officers and other security forces at the time.
- Even the best-known defendants with the highest prison sentences - the former front men of the two radical right-wing groups "Oath Keepers" and "Proud Boys", Stewart Rhodes and Henry "Enrique" Tarrio - were released just hours after Trump's inauguration.
- Trump's rigorous total pardon of all but one hundred criminals on January 6, 2021 surprised even people close to him.
Shortly after the new US President Donald Trump pardoned all offenders from the Capitol attack, many convicts are free - and triumphant. In the first few hours after Trump's inauguration, prisoners convicted of involvement in the violent attack on the seat of Congress four years ago were released in various places across the country. They include people who brutally beat police officers and other security forces at the time.
The leader of the right-wing Proud Boys, Henry Enrique Tarrio, was one of the defendants with the highest prison sentences after the Capitol attack. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
In various places in the USA, those convicted of the Capitol attack were released from prison.
Image: Keystone
Trump supporters celebrated the releases as a victory.
Image: Keystone
The attack on the US Capitol four years ago was a turning point for the USA. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Trump justifies his decision and dodges critical questions.
Image: Keystone
The founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, was also sentenced to a long prison term after the attack. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Some of the rioters had been charged with minor offenses, but others were also charged with serious crimes. Now they are all going free.
Image: Keystone
The leader of the right-wing Proud Boys, Henry Enrique Tarrio, was one of the defendants with the highest prison sentences after the Capitol attack. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
In various places in the USA, those convicted of the Capitol attack were released from prison.
Image: Keystone
Trump supporters celebrated the releases as a victory.
Image: Keystone
The attack on the US Capitol four years ago was a turning point for the USA. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Trump justifies his decision and dodges critical questions.
Image: Keystone
The founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, was also sentenced to a long prison term after the attack. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Some of the rioters had been charged with minor offenses, but others were also charged with serious crimes. Now they are all going free.
Image: Keystone
The best-known defendants with the longest prison sentences - the former front men of the two radical right-wing groups "Oath Keepers" and "Proud Boys", Stewart Rhodes and Henry "Enrique" Tarrio - were also released just hours after Trump's inauguration. They expressed their satisfaction.
Trump's rigorous total pardon of all but one hundred criminals on January 6, 2021 surprised even people close to him. High-ranking Democrats and ex-police officers reacted with outrage and alarm. Trump justified his decision and said that many of the punishments were "ridiculous" and "excessive". His move proves once again that the Republican is not afraid to break taboos. But it also shows how damaged the American justice system is - and how endangered American democracy is.
Pardons for all - whether violent offenders or not
On January 6, 2021, supporters of then President Trump violently stormed the seat of parliament in Washington. Congress had convened there that day to formally confirm Democrat Joe Biden's victory against Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Trump had previously incited his supporters in a speech and for weeks beforehand with unsubstantiated claims that his election victory had been stolen from him through fraud. Five people died as a result of the riots.
Some of the rioters were charged with minor offenses - such as unlawfully entering the Capitol, resisting police officers, breaking windows, destroying or stealing items in the building. Others were convicted of serious crimes, for example for beating police officers with sticks, metal rods or fists or for planning the attack to sabotage the transition of power.
From the outset, Trump had promised to pardon convicted supporters from back then. However, he repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to look at each individual case. His Vice President J.D. Vance said in a television interview just a few days before the inauguration: "Anyone who committed violence that day should obviously not be pardoned." His boss obviously saw it differently and ordered everyone to be released - regardless of whether they were violent offenders or not.
Right-wing extremists celebrate
Rhodes and Tarrio were not present at the riot themselves. However, they orchestrated their people from the background, some of whom appeared at the Capitol in full riot gear and had been preparing the attack for a long time. Both Rhodes and Tarrio were found guilty of charges including "seditious conspiracy" - a criminal offense that had rarely been used before in the history of the US justice system. Rhodes received 18 years in prison, Tarrio even 22 years. They were accused of plotting to use violence to prevent a change of power after the 2020 presidential election. Now they are free men.
Tarrio spoke shortly after his release in an interview with right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. He was speechless with joy, the right-wing extremist said. "22 years is not a short sentence. (...) Trump has literally given me my life back." Referring to the prison sentence for him and other "Proud Boys", he said: "We've been through hell. And I'm telling you, it was worth it."
Rhodes also showed up outside a detention center in the nation's capital, Washington, shortly after his release from a Maryland prison to express his solidarity with other inmates. "President Trump did the right thing," the man with the distinctive eye patch said there, complaining that he and the others had not received a fair trial.
"There's a new sheriff in town"
Prisoners from January 6 were welcomed and celebrated by relatives, friends and supporters at prisons in various cities across the USA. At a detention center in the capital Washington, an elderly man with a Trump wool cap and a Trump flag over his shoulder waited for the release of his two adult children. They were locked up for brutally beating police officers on January 6, 2021, among other things. While waiting in front of journalists, the father told them how proud he was of his children and that this was a day of victory. Referring to Trump, he said: "There's a new sheriff in town."
Indeed, with Trump in power, some in the USA feel transported back to the "Wild West". Police officer Michael Fanone, who was on duty at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was bludgeoned and maltreated with a stun gun, told CNN that he now fears for his safety and that of his children after his tormentors were pardoned.
Doubts about the system
Trump's decision also raises the question of the state of America's justice system. A US president does have the constitutional power to shorten the sentences of offenders convicted under federal law or to pardon convicts completely - even retrospectively, i.e. after they have served their sentence. However, the fact that Trump is using this power to release violent criminals who have injured American police officers and who - fueled by himself - attempted to stop the peaceful and democratic transition of power in the USA is unprecedented. Trump dodges questions about this and is clueless as to who exactly has been pardoned. He also points to his predecessor in office, Biden.
Shortly before the end of his term in office, he had preemptively pardoned his son, his siblings and their spouses, as well as Democratic MPs and former government officials - to protect his son from a prison sentence and everyone else from possible prosecution by Trump's government. The Democrat had previously categorically ruled this out and criticized preventive pardons as wrong years ago. His about-turn has not exactly contributed to confidence in the fairness of the US justice system.
The system is very politicized per se. Presidents select judges for federal courts and the Supreme Court and compete to see who can make more nominations in a term of office, because it is very helpful for the implementation of their policies to encounter well-meaning judges when their decisions are legally challenged. Right now more than ever, the USA needs a judicial system that is beyond reproach.
