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WASHINGTON (CN) — In his first executive order upon returning to the Oval Office, President Donald Trump, pardoned nearly 1,600 people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and commuted the sentence of Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes Monday night.
The order grants full pardons to the approximately 1,583 defendants who have been charged for actions ranging from assaulting police to remaining on the restricted Capitol grounds, including for other high-profile defendants like former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.
“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” Trump wrote in the executive order.
Trump commuted the sentences of Rhodes, who was serving 18 years in prison for planning the far-right militia’s role in trying to overthrow the government on Jan. 6 — which included several “Quick Reaction Forces” stationed just outside Washington with weapon caches ready to descend on the city on Rhodes’ command — and 13 of his lieutenants.
Rhodes and Florida state leader Kelly Meggs were convicted of seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that had not been used since the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.
Trump also ordered his attorney general to dismiss the approximately 470 remaining cases against Jan. 6 defendants, including individuals like Ryan Samsel, who was accused in part of sparking the violence that day. The Justice Department suggested U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb should sentence him to 20 years.
Samsel was convicted of seven counts of assaulting officers with a metal fence, obstructing officers during a civil disorder, physical violence on Capitol grounds, impeding officers on the West front, resisting officers by grabbing a riot shield, assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
In addition to Rhodes and Meggs, Trump commuted the sentences of Oath Keepers Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Ethan Norman, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola and Jeremy Bertino.
Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in part for a seditious conspiracy charge in September 2023, was one of the first high-profile Jan. 6 defendants to petition Trump for a pardon after the November election via his defense attorney, Nayib Hassan.
In a statement on Monday, Hassan thanked Trump for granting his client a “full and complete pardon” and called the charges against Tarrio “politically charged.”
“This marks a pivotal moment in our client’s life, and it symbolizes a turning point for our nation,” Hassan said. “We look forward to President Trump’s continued leadership and his proclamation to ‘Make America Great Again’ as a guiding principle for the future of our country.”
Trump issued the pardons and 14 commutations as his first action upon officially returning to the White House, less than an hour after signing a slew of executive orders before a massive crowd of supporters in the Capital One Arena downtown.
“We’re going to release our great hostages who, for the most part, didn’t do anything wrong,” Trump said at the arena, repeating his characterization of the Capitol rioters as political prisoners.
He signed the initial batch of orders after moving his swearing-in ceremony inside the Capitol Rotunda and his Inaugural Parade inside the arena due to freezing temperatures.
The release of countless defendants who were still in prison as of Monday raised concerns for those who testified against them at trial, from former Washington police officers to family members
Jackson Reffitt, son of Jan. 6 defendant Guy Reffitt, said on CNN Monday night that he was “flabbergasted” and “terrified” at what might happen upon the release of his father, who he reported to the FBI after seeing the elder man’s picture on an identification list.
“My dad once called me a traitor and said, ‘traitors get shot,’ that’s all I can think about recently,” Reffitt said.
He said he had purchased a gun and moved away to avoid being found by his father or other Jan. 6 defendants and their supporters upon their release.
“I’ve talked to my father before. I had thought it had gotten better, but he’s still involved with these militias,” Reffitt said. “He’s more galvanized than ever. I can’t feel safe.”
Noah Bookbinder, a former federal prosecutor and president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, decried the pardons in a statement Monday.
“It is hard to overstate the destructive and devastating impact of President Trump’s sweeping pardons of Jan. 6 participants and sentence commutations of those convicted of violent or extremely serious offenses for their role in that insurrection,” Bookbinder said. “It also makes clear where Trump stands on the insurrection: Many of the people who attacked the Capitol said they did it because they thought they had Trump’s support. He just made it clear that they did.”
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