Trump Grants Sweeping Pardons For Jan. 6 Defendants

January 21, 2025 5:08 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s action Monday paves the way for the release from prison of people found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican in power after he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden. The pardons are a culmination of Trump’s yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured.