Capitol security call it ‘slap in the face’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump, in one of the first moves by him after assuming office, signed an executive order pardoning all those convicted in the January 6 riots. Subsequently, hundreds of people accused of violent crimes during the Capitol riots of 2021 walked out of prison, with almost all the charges against them dropped.
Addressing a press conference in the White House on Monday, Trump said, “These people have already served years in prison, and they’ve served them viciously. It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane. It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”
With this pardon, the January 6 rioters got everything that they asked for from the government, except for monetary compensation for being imprisoned.
‘Thank you, Mr Trump’
There were celebrations as the January 6 rioters walked out of prison, with their family members and Republican supporters flocking the streets and chanting “freedom” over the President’s decision.
Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes were two of the highest-profile January 6 defendants and received some of the harshest punishments in what became the largest investigation in Justice Department history.
Zuny Tarrio, the mother of Proud Boys group leader Enrique, posted on social media, “Our president gave my son and all the J6ers their lives back! They can live again! Breathe fresh air again! Feel the sunshine again!”
Another prisoner named Rachel Powell, who smashed windows in the Capitol using an ice axe, said “Thank you, Mr Trump” as she walked out of prison. While speaking to BBC, Powell said, “He’s a bigger blessing to me than I could ever imagine. He brought my family back together, I am indebted.”
Jacob Chansley, a self-styled shaman, told BBC that he “screamed freedom at the top of his lungs” as he walked out of jail after four years. Pleading guilty for his role in the January 6 riots, Chansley said, “I regret nothing.” He also said that his record has been wiped clean, and that he plans to buy guns once again.
‘A slap in the face’
While Trump supporters celebrated the blanket pardon, Capitol security personnel were not too keen on the decision. Winston Pingeon, a Capitol Police officer who was assaulted during the riots, told BBC that the pardons were a “slap in the face”.
“It’s really an unprecedented thing to know that these violent felons who were convicted by a jury of their peers for crimes that were largely broadcast for all the country and the world to see are going to walk free,” he said.
Speaker Emiretus Nancy Pelosi, who had to hide from the rioters inside the Capitol, said in a statement, “The president’s actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution.”
“It is shameful that the president has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power,” she said.
While nearly 1,500 rioters rejoiced at Trump’s decision, one of the people who served time for the riots refused to accept the pardon. Pam Hemphill, who was jailed for 60 days in relation with the riots, told BBC, “We were wrong that day.”
“Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation,” she said. Hemphill said that she pleaded guilty because she was guilty.
“We were wrong that day, we broke the law – there should be no pardons,” she said.
Agencies