January 6 Pardons

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued sweeping pardons for over 1500  people who were charged/convicted in the January 6 insurrection. This included the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups. A pardon allows people convicted of a felony to legally own firearms again.

More than 140 police officers were injured and several Trump supporters died during the attack, including one who was shot trying to breach the House Speaker’s Lobby and another who died in the middle of a brutal battle at the lower west tunnel, where some of the worst violence of the day took place.

The unprecedented attack on the Capitol, when the peaceful transfer of power was interrupted, was one of the most significant moments in American history.

It resulted in the largest FBI investigation ever, with criminal charges against more than 1,500 people and criminal convictions against more than 1,100 defendants. Many low-level riot defendants were sentenced to probationary periods after having been convicted of misdemeanor offenses, like unlawful parading inside the Capitol.

But hundreds of others who committed serious felonies, such as assaulting police with deadly or dangerous weapons, got significant prison sentences.

At the time Trump issued the pardons, there were about 700 defendants who either never received prison sentences or had already completed their sentences, meaning pardons or commutations would have little practical impact on them, beyond restoring voting rights and gun rights for those who were convicted of felonies.

More than 600 people were sentenced to incarceration, but only a small fraction of them are still behind bars. Many of those who are in the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons were convicted of violent attacks on police officers protecting the Capitol during the assault on Jan. 6   https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-set-pardon-defendants-stormed-capitol-jan-6-2021-rcna187735

Action: Cal the Whitehouse (202- 456-1111) to express your opposition/support for these pardons.