Trump pardons or commutes all charged Jan. 6 rioters
The new president pardoned roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot


What happened
President Donald Trump Monday night granted a blanket pardon to more than 1,200 supporters convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. He also commuted the sentences of 14 far-right militia members and ordered the Justice Department to drop more than 300 pending Jan. 6 cases.
Trump's actions will release about 400 people from jail, including rioters convicted of violently assaulting police officers, and Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders serving sentences up to 22 years for seditious conspiracy. Hours earlier, outgoing President Joe Biden had issued preemptive pardons for Capitol Police officers and members of the House Jan. 6 Committee, plus some family members and high-profile former officials, to protect them from Trump's threats of retribution.
Who said what
Trump's "sweeping move" gives "some form of clemency to all those charged or convicted in the riot," The Washington Post said. The pardons are a "culmination of Trump's yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack" from a violent attempt to overturn his 2020 loss to a "day of love" whose "patriots" were "hostages" of a partisan justice system, The Associated Press said. Trump's efforts have "gradually worn down the consensus that the riot marked one of American democracy's darkest days," The New York Times said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Several Republicans, including Trump's attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, recently criticized the rioters who attacked police officers. Vice President J.D. Vance said on Fox News earlier this month that "if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned."
What next?
Jailed Jan. 6 defendants are already being released from prison. A "pardon is not an expungement of a conviction," the Post said, but "restrictions on voting, gun ownership and other privileges are eliminated."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Pregnancy in America
Feature Why is it getting riskier to give birth in the U.S.?
-
The potential warning sign of an auto lender’s bankruptcy
In the Spotlight Tricolor collapse an ‘extreme example’ of economy’s challenges
-
RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine crusade comes under fire
Feature Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a heated hearing as senators accused him of lying and spreading chaos
-
Venezuela: Was Trump’s air strike legal?
Feature A Trump-ordered airstrike targeted a speedboat off the coast of Venezuela, killing all 11 passengers on board
-
3 killed in Trump’s second Venezuelan boat strike
Speed Read Legal experts said Trump had no authority to order extrajudicial executions of noncombatants
-
Is Kash Patel’s fate sealed after Kirk shooting missteps?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The FBI’s bungled response in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting has director Kash Patel in the hot seat
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spins
Speed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
Trump renews push to fire Cook before Fed meeting
Speed Read The push to remove Cook has ‘quickly become the defining battle in Trump’s effort to take control of the Fed’
-
Will Donald Trump’s second state visit be a diplomatic disaster?
Today's Big Question Charlie Kirk shooting, Saturday’s far-right rally and continued Jeffrey Epstein fallout ramps-up risks of already fraught trip
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Calls for both calm and consequences follow Kirk killing
TALKING POINTS The suspected assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk has some public figures pleading for restraint, while others agitate for violent reprisals