Pardon of January 6 United States Capitol attack defendants

On January 20, 2025, during the first day of his second term, United States president Donald Trump issued a proclamation that granted clemency to about 1,500 people convicted of offenses related to the January 6 United States Capitol attack that occurred near the end of his first presidential term.
In the aftermath of his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden, Trump repeatedly made false claims that widespread electoral fraud had occurred and that only he himself had legitimately won the election. Although most resulting lawsuits were either dismissed or ruled against by numerous courts, Trump nonetheless conspired with his campaign team to submit documents in several states (all of which had been won by Biden) which falsely claimed to be legitimate electoral certificates for President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. After the submission of these documents, the Trump campaign intended that the presiding officer of the United States Senate, either President of the Senate Pence or President pro tempore Chuck Grassley, would claim to have the unilateral power to reject electors during the January 6, 2021 vote counting session; the presiding officer would reject all electors from the several states in which the Trump campaign had submitted false documents, leaving 232 votes for Trump and 222 votes for Biden, thereby overturning the election results in favor of Trump. The plans for January 6 failed to come to fruition after Pence refused to follow the campaign's proposals.
Trump nevertheless urged his supporters on January 6, 2021, to march to the Capitol while the joint session of Congress was assembled there to count electoral votes and formalize Biden's victory, culminating with hundreds storming the building and interrupting the electoral vote count.
By the end of 2021, 725 people had been charged with federal crimes. That number rose to 1,000 by the second anniversary of the attack, to 1,200 by the third anniversary (three-quarters of whom had by then been found guilty) and to 1,500 before the fourth anniversary. The Justice Department documented assaults on over 140 police officers and property damage exceeding $2.8 million to the Capitol building and grounds. Approximately 170 defendants had been accused of using deadly or dangerous weapons against law enforcement officers, including fire extinguishers and bear spray.
Throughout the Biden administration, Trump characterized the January 6 defendants as "political prisoners" and "hostages." He promoted a revisionist history of the event by downplaying the severity of the violence and spreading conspiracy theories. House Republicans also spread a fringe conspiracy that the FBI orchestrated the attack. On January 29, 2022, when over 760 people had been charged, Trump said at a Texas rally that he would be inclined to pardon the rioters if he were reelected in 2024, which he repeated at a Tennessee rally in June 2022. In November, four days before the midterm elections, he said: "Let them all go now!" On May 10, 2023, he said he would be "inclined to pardon many of them" while hedging by saying "a couple of them, probably, they got out of control". On September 15, 2023, he said in an interview that aired two days later: "I'm going to look at them, and I certainly might [pardon them] if I think it's appropriate."
Representative Adam Schiff, who served on the House committee that investigated the attack and was the lead manager during Trump's first impeachment trial, told MSNBC in February 2022 that Trump's offer of pardons suggested that he "condoned" the violence. Representative Pete Aguilar, who was also on the committee, told CNN the same day that he considered Trump's offer to be witness tampering.
On December 8, 2024, as president-elect, Trump said he would pardon the rioters on his "first day" in office except for any he might deem to be "radical, crazy." Then-vice president elect JD Vance stated that pardons should be given to those who "protested peacefully", and not those who did so violently. Vance initially advocated for a blanket pardon in private but thought Trump wouldn't want to do so for political reasons, and was reportedly "100% behind" Trump's decision to grant clemency to all rioters. A week following the pardon, Vance told Face The Nation that he and Trump perceived a “massive denial of due process of liberty" and that the pardon was the "right decision".
On January 20, 2025, Trump issued a proclamation titled "Granting Pardons and Commutation of Sentences for Certain Offenses Relating to the Events at or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021". The proclamation categorized prior criminal proceedings as a "grave national injustice" against the American people, and positioned the pardons as beginning a "process of national reconciliation". Two inside sources stated that Trump made the decision to give blanket pardons at the "last minute" just days before the inauguration, with one advisor saying Trump said "Fuck it: Release 'em all".
Citing Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States, the proclamation established two distinct categories of clemency for individuals involved in the events at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The first category of clemency consisted of sentence commutations to time served for fourteen named individuals. These commutations applied to prominent figures in the January 6 events, including Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes with members Kelly Meggs and Roberto Minuta, Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordean, Jeremy Bertino, and Joseph Biggs, and Proud Boy member Dominic Pezzola, who was the first rioter to breach the Capitol building, all of whom had their sentences reduced to time served "as of January 20, 2025". The second category consisted of "full, complete, and unconditional" pardons granted to every other defendant convicted in relation to the events of January 6.
The Attorney General was directed to immediately issue pardon certificates to all eligible individuals and ensure the release of any incarcerated persons affected by the pardons. Additionally, the United States Department of Justice was ordered to dismiss "with prejudice" all pending indictments related to January 6 conduct, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons received explicit orders to implement all Justice Department instructions regarding both the releases and the dismissal of pending cases.
Trump commuted the sentences of 14 individuals. Although their convictions remain on their criminal records, they became eligible for immediate release from prison, as their sentences were commuted to "time served."
Trump's grant of clemency was described by counterterrorism researchers as encouraging future political violence, and Trump later suggested the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers may have a place in the political conversation.
Employees in the Justice Department and legal scholars called the pardons an unprecedented and dangerous use of the pardon that created a mockery of federal law enforcement, their work, and the US justice system. An anonymous senior official in the Justice Department called the pardons a green light signal to political violence and that nothing done during the January 6 attack were wrong. They continued calling the pardons a campaign of personal retribution.
US District Judge Royce Lamberth, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, stated during a case on 25 January 2025 that during his time on the bench, he could never recall "such meritless justifications of criminal activity". Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor and professor at George Washington University Law School called the pardons as an abuse of power by Trump, and it signaled that if they commit crimes on Trump's behalf there would be no accountability. Bruce Ackerman, a law and political science professor at Yale Law School echoed the sentiment calling the action, "..a president pardoning his allies for their participation in a violent coup d'etat".
Many of the pardoned rioters had prior convictions and outstanding charges for rape, child sexual exploitation, domestic violence, manslaughter, drug trafficking, and other crimes. The Justice Department argued that Trump's pardons may extend to cases involving weapons or other crimes uncovered in January 6-related searches.
A PBS/Marist poll conducted a month before the pardons found that 89% of Democrats, 62% of independents, and 30% of Republicans disapproved of pardons. Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted shortly before and during Trump's pardons found that 58% of people believed Trump should not pardon all those involved in the riot. NPR reported that some Trump voters expressed disapproval of the sweeping pardons, but that "Trump's staunchest supporters, though, refuse to believe that fellow backers of the president were violent that day" and cited conspiracy theories they read on social media.
After Trump issued the pardons, he answered affirmatively when a reporter asked if he agreed "that it's never acceptable to assault a police officer". When asked to reconcile that opinion with his having pardoned someone who "drove a stun gun into the neck of a D.C. police officer" (this attack was against Officer Michael Fanone), Trump replied, "Well, I don't know. Was it a pardon? We're looking at commutes. We're looking at pardons." When the reporter confirmed that this individual had been pardoned, Trump added, "OK, we'll take a look at everything." He continued speaking for another minute, adding: "These people have already served a long period of time, and I made a decision to give a pardon."
Norm Pattis, defense lawyer for the Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs, called the pardons "wonderful" and expressed gratitude that Biggs would have his prison sentence cut short by 13 to 14 years.
Jacob Chansley's immediate reaction to being pardoned was to post to X that he would buy guns. Stewart Rhodes told reporters that his actions on January 6 were justified and called for the prosecution of the Capitol police who testified against him at his trial and the Justice Department lawyers who were involved in his case. Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes asserted that they wanted Trump to seek revenge on their behalf. On January 22, Stewart Rhodes appeared on Capitol Hill and delivered a speech defending his actions.
Pamela Hemphill objected to the pardons, saying that "We were wrong that day. We broke the law. There should be no pardons" and that accepting it would "contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative" in an attempt to "rewrite history", and that the Justice Department was not weaponized against Trump supporters.
Jason Riddle also rejected his pardon, telling ABC News: "I am guilty of the crimes I have committed and accept the consequences. It is thanks to those consequences I now have a happy and fruitful existence." He also expressed resentment toward Trump, stating: "I don't need to obsess over a narcissistic bully to feel better about myself. Trump can shove his pardon up his ass."
Rebecca Lavrenz, known on social media as the "J6 Praying Grandma", also declined her pardon, stating that she planned to appeal her case and get her criminal record cleared. Lavrenz was convicted of four misdemeanor charges and sentenced to a year of probation, including six months of house arrest, as well as being ordered to pay a $103,000 fine.
Several family members and friends of convicted defendants celebrated the news outside of the D.C. Jail.
Jackson Reffitt reported his father, Guy Reffitt, days before the attack on the Capitol. He said that, after the attack on the Capitol, his father warned him not to report him because "traitors get shot." Jackson went on to testify against him in court, and Guy was sentenced to over seven years in prison. On January 22, 2025, Jackson told MSNBC he had received death threats and feared what his father, having been pardoned, might do to him.
Daniel Hodges, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who had been repeatedly assaulted and crushed by rioters during the attack, responded to the pardons on his Twitter account: "Thanks America." Former Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten and tased until unconscious during the riot, was asked during a CNN interview what he would say to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. Fanone replied, "Go fuck yourself. You're a liar".
Former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell described the pardons as a "miserable" injustice that removed accountability from rioters who did "irreparable damage to our nation". Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn called the pardons a "continuation of the stain that January 6th left on our nation", and said he was not surprised that Trump fulfilled his promise to people he had incited to attack the Capitol and its defenders.
The Fraternal Order of Police—the nation's largest police union, which endorsed Trump in each of the last three elections—joined the International Association of Chiefs of Police in condemning the mass pardon. In a joint statement on January 22, 2025, the organizations said that the pardon of "individuals convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers...sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe".
The day of the pardon, Nancy Pelosi, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives during the January 6 attack, described the proclamation as "shameful" and a "outrageous insult" to police officers involved in and injured during the attack, and to the nation's justice system. Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff called the pardon "obscene". Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the pardons, and remarked that Trump was leading the nation to a "Golden Age" for insurrectionary criminals.
On January 27, Senator Patty Murray introduced a symbolic resolution to condemn Trump for pardoning the rioters. It was co-sponsored by all Senate Democrats and no Senate Republicans.
Some Republican leaders, including Senators Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis, James Lankford, Lisa Murkowski, Bill Cassidy, and Susan Collins, also expressed disagreement with the mass pardon.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson favored the pardon, implying that the attack on the Capitol had been peaceful: "I think what was made clear all along is that peaceful protests and people who engage in that should never be punished."
Representative Lauren Boebert spoke favorably of the pardoned people: "I want to see them for their release, and you know, I'll be the first member of Congress to offer them a guided tour of the Capitol."