trump-pardons-1500-supporters-charged-in-jan-6-capitol-attack

President Donald Trump on Monday said he was pardoning about 1,500 of his supporters who have been charged in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, using his sweeping clemency powers on his first day back in office to dismantle the largest investigation and prosecution in Justice Department history.

 

The pardons were expected after Trump's yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the January 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured and threatened the peaceful transfer of power.

 

Yet, the scope of the clemency still comes as a massive blow to the Justice Department's effort to hold participants accountable over what has been described as one of the darkest days in American history.

 

Trump said he was also commuting the sentences of six defendants, though the White House did not immediately provide further details.

 

In the weeks before his return to the White House, Trump had suggested that he would examine the January 6 defendants on a case-by-case basis.