NB247
Donald Trump has announced that he has pardoned all defendants who had been charged for their role in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
On January 6, 2021, Trump held a rally encouraging his supporters to “stop the steal” – a phrase he used to allege that his 2020 defeat was the result of electoral fraud.
Trump has continued to repeat that claim, even as he was sworn in for a second term on Monday.
His supporters left Trump’s rally and descended on the US Capitol, attacking police officers and breaking into the building in an apparent attempt to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election, which was unfolding inside.
Some supporters chanted phrases like “Kill Mike Pence”, a reference to Trump’s vice president at the time. Lawmakers were forced to flee the Capitol.
Trump himself has faced legal fallout for his actions in relation to the 2020 election, including one state-level criminal case in Georgia and one federal indictment for election interference that was dropped late last year, as a result of his recent re-election.
In addition to the nearly 1,500 defendants he pardoned, Trump also issued multiple “J6” commutations, according to a statement from the White House.
They include figures like Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right militia the Oath Keepers who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 2022.
Trump has reportedly called on the Justice Department to drop all pending cases against January 6 defendants. An estimated 1,583 people had faced federal charges in total.