Trump issues 1,500 pardons for Jan. 6 defendants: ‘Going to release our great hostages’

WASHINGTON — President Trump issued pardons Monday night to hundreds of participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — staying true to his promise to grant clemency to people involved in halting the counting of Electoral College votes that day.

Trump, 78, said he issued “approximately 1,500” pardons after returning to the White House from a day of inaugural festivities, telling reporters present that “I hope they come out tonight.”

The newly sworn-in 47th president signed a document commuting 14 prison sentences and offering “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

“I will say this, they’ve been in jail for a long time already. I see murderers in this country get two years, one year and maybe no time. So they’ve already been in jail for a long time. These people have been destroyed,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked if any beneficiaries had assaulted police.

“What they’ve done to these people is outrageous. Even people that were aggressive, and in many cases, I believe they happen to be outside agitators. But what do I know? But I think they were. I think they were outside agitators. They were outside agitators. And obviously, the FBI was involved.”

The Justice Department criminally charged 1,583 people in connection with the riot, which broke out after Trump, while serving the final days of his first term, told thousands of supporters that the 2020 election was being “stolen” from him.

Asked if anyone would not get clemency, Trump said, “the commutations would be the ones, and we’ll take a look, and maybe it’ll stay that way, or it’ll go to a full pardon.”

The orders require the Federal Bureau of Prisons to immediately release the inmates.

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“They’ve been treated very unfair. The judges have been absolutely brutal. The prosecutors have been brutal. And nobody’s ever treated people in this country like that,” Trump said on the first day of his second term.

The 45th and 47th president, whom the House of Representatives impeached seven days after the riot for allegedly inciting the mob, said participants were treated unfairly compared to people who committed crimes during anti-police riots in 2020.

“What happened in Seattle, where they took over a big portion of the city? What happened in Portland, where they burned down the city every day and people died? Nothing happened to anybody, but they go after these people violently,” he said.

“It’s Washington, DC. People go into a trial and they say, ‘I have a wonderful lawyer, and I didn’t do anything wrong.’And they end up in shackles almost immediately and jail. No, we’re not going to let it happen.”

Trump announced the plan before returning to the White House, telling thousands of supporters at an event that served as a stand-in for the traditional inaugural parade, “We’re going to go to the Oval Office, we’re going to release our great hostages.”

“For the most part they didn’t do stuff wrong,” he added.

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Trump had vowed on the campaign trail he would consider the pardons on a case-by-case basis — but long expressed anger at the rioters being imprisoned for years and said he would go about reviewing the pardons “in the first hour that I get into office.”

One non-violent offender, Philip Sean Grillo of New York City, shouted, “Trump’s gonna pardon me anyways,” when he was sentenced to one year in prison in early December for walking around the Capitol building and shouting “charge” into a megaphone.

A majority of the charges related to unlawful entry and disorderly conduct, but some were handed multi-year sentences for assault or other crimes.

About 562 rioters were sentenced to time in federal prison as of August 2024, according to the Department of Justice. Many already completed their sentences.

Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio was given one of the longest sentences — 22 years for seditious conspiracy, even though he was not present at the Capitol on the day of the attack.

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Four of Trump’s supporters died during the riot — including Ashli Babbitt, 35, who was fatally shot by a cop as she climbed through a busted-out window in the House Speaker’s Lobby.

Another Trump supporter, Rosanne Boyland, 34, died after collapsing in the Rotunda during clashes between rioters and police.

Two other Trump supporters —  Benjamin Philips, 50, and Kevin Greeson, 55 — died of medical emergencies during the riot.

Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, 42, himself a Trump voter, died of a stroke one day after the attack. Two police officers died by suicide later that month.

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Trump hinted at issuing pardons to Jan. 6 rioters as early as 2022, before he had officially announced his run for re-election.

“If I run, and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly,” Trump said at a January rally that year in Conroe, Texas.

“And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons,” he added. “Because they are being treated so unfairly.”

Trump doubled down as he got closer to assuming the White House once more, saying the pardons would likely be a Day One action.

“I’m going to be acting very quickly. First day,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker, adding, “they’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”

He noted there may be “exceptions” for those who were “radical” or “crazy” — but said otherwise the “system is a very nasty system” and that some were forced to plead guilty.

Trump was outraged after former President Biden issued a sweeping pardon to his son Hunter, writing on Truth Social, “does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”