Trump supporters who stormed US Capitol begin to leave prison following sweeping pardons
The Republican president's pardon of 1,500 defendants on Monday, Inauguration Day, drew outrage from lawmakers who were endangered in the January 6, 2021, attack
Donald Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol four years ago will begin to leave prison on Tuesday after the newly installed president issued a sweeping pardon that signalled he intends to make aggressive use of his executive power.
The Republican president's pardon of 1,500 defendants on Monday, Inauguration Day, drew outrage from lawmakers who were endangered in the January 6, 2021, attack, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
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Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers militia who had his 18-year prison sentence commuted, was released early on Tuesday after midnight in Cumberland, Maryland.
Rhodes did not enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, but he was found guilty of plotting to use force against Congress to prevent the election certification. He was also accused of helping to stockpile firearms at a hotel in nearby Virginia that could be ferried across the river to Washington.
“Donald Trump is ushering in a Golden Age for people that break the law and attempt to overthrow the government," said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
The attack was spurred by Trump's refusal to acknowledge his defeat, which threatened the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in U.S. history. Roughly 140 police officers were assaulted during the attack and four people died during the chaos.
Among those due to be released are leaders of the far-right Proud Boys organization, including some who were convicted of seditious conspiracy. About 40 men wearing Proud Boys insignia traded insults with protesters on the streets of Washington during Trump's inauguration on Monday.
Trump's pardon was only one of a sheaf of executive orders he signed after an inauguration ceremony in the U.S. Rotunda, where his supporters had rampaged four years earlier.
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