Written by Julio Cesar Chavez, Andrew Godward, Jason Lange, and Nathan Lane

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hundreds of Donald Trump supporters who were serving prison sentences for participating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, were released on Tuesday, after the new president pardoned more than 1,500 people, including some who… They assaulted. Police officers.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said 211 people were released from federal facilities after Trump’s order.

Trump’s sweeping pardon — which went further than his allies indicated they expected — drew condemnation from police who clashed with the mob, their families, and lawmakers, including some of the president’s fellow Republicans.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll that ended on Tuesday showed that a majority of Americans reject Trump’s decision.

The decision was also criticized by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the largest police union in the United States that supported Trump in the 2024 election. The FOP and the International Association of Chiefs of Police said in a joint statement that they were “deeply disappointed” by the pardon.

Among those released is Stuart Rhodes, the former leader of the far-right group Oath Keepers, who was serving an 18-year prison sentence after being convicted of planning to use force to prevent Congress from certifying Trump’s 2020 defeat to Joe Biden.

“It’s redemption, but it’s also vindication,” Rhodes told reporters outside a Washington, D.C., prison, where a crowd of Trump supporters were waiting for more prisoners to be released.

Rhodes, who did not enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, said he has no remorse and still believes Trump’s false claims that he lost that election due to fraud. Rhodes was released earlier in the day from a separate facility in Cumberland, Maryland, after Trump commuted his sentence.

Trump ordered the pardon of all those accused in the assault, when a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol building in a failed attempt to overturn his election defeat. About 140 police officers were injured in the violence, which sent lawmakers running for their lives.

“The man who killed my brother”

Craig Sicknick, whose brother, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, was assaulted during the riot and died of multiple strokes the next day, called Trump “pure evil” on Tuesday.

“The man who killed my brother is now president,” he told Reuters.

“My brother died in vain. Everything he did to try to protect the country, protect the Capitol — why did he care?” Sicknick said. He added: “What Trump did is despicable, and proves that the United States no longer has anything resembling a judicial system.”

Trump’s order extended from people who only committed misdemeanors such as trespassing to those who served as gang leaders for assault.

Nearly 60% of respondents in the two-day Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted immediately after Trump took office on Monday, said he should not pardon all of the Capitol defendants.

One of Trump’s Republican colleagues, Senator Thom Tillis, said that sparing rioters who attacked police sent the wrong message.

“I saw in my news clips today a picture of people who were crushing that police officer,” Tillis told Reuters in a hallway interview. “None of them should get a pardon.” “You’re making this place less safe if you send a signal that police officers are likely to be assaulted, and there are no consequences.”

Others welcomed Trump’s decision. Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said she would offer tours of the Capitol building to the defendants after they are released.

Among those released earlier today was Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys group.

Tarrio was not present at the Capitol on January 6, but was sentenced to 22 years in prison, longer than any other defendant, after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy for his role in planning the attack.

Campaign promise

Trump’s pardon went further than many of his allies suggested. Both Vice President J.D. Vance and Trump’s chosen Attorney General, Pam Bondi, had previously said they believed people who committed violent acts would not be pardoned.

White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt defended the pardons, claiming without evidence that many of the convictions were politically motivated.

“President Trump campaigned on that promise,” she told Fox News. “It should come as no surprise that he did it on day one.”

More than 1,000 defendants pleaded guilty rather than stand trial, including 327 who confessed to crimes, according to Justice Ministry statistics.

One protester, Ashli ​​Babbitt, was shot and killed by police during the riots on January 6, as she attempted to storm the House of Representatives chamber. Four officers who responded that day died by suicide.

Trump’s pardon wasn’t the only one on Monday: In his final hours in office, outgoing President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned five members of his family, a move that followed his pardon last year of his son Hunter Biden, who was accused of tax fraud. and illegally purchasing firearms.

Republican Senator Susan Collins said that the two presidents acted wrongly, and described what happened as “a terrible day for our Department of Justice.” Tillis also criticized Biden’s pardon.

Trump’s action closes the largest investigation in the Justice Department’s history, including more than 300 cases that remain pending. Prosecutors filed dozens of motions to dismiss the cases Tuesday morning, federal court records show.

The trial comes to an abrupt end

In Washington, the trial of Kenneth Fuller and his son Caleb, who faced criminal charges of obstructing police during a civil unrest, ended abruptly on Tuesday.

Federal judges in Washington — including some Trump appointees — have handled Capitol riot cases for years and have expressed concern about today’s events. At a hearing in November, US District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, said a blanket pardon on January 6 would be “more than frustrating or disappointing,” according to a court transcript.

The judge presiding over Fullers’ trial, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, ordered it dismissed without discussion, noting that her ruling met what she described as Trump’s decree.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Caleb Fuller, 22, said he and his parents had a bottle of champagne in their hotel room after hearing Trump’s decision Monday evening.

Fuller said he did not witness any violence during the riot.

“I didn’t see anyone get hurt,” he added. “So I feel like everyone who was around me deserves a pardon.”