In one of the first actions of his second term, President Donald Trump pardoned more than 1,000 Jan. 6 rioters on Monday night after the inaugural parade.
Sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Trump signed off on releasing 1,500 Jan. 6 prisoners. The order requires the Bureau of Prisons to act immediately on receipt of the pardons.
“We hope they come out tonight,” Trump said.
Trump said repeatedly leading up to his swearing in that he would quickly pardon people imprisoned for the 2021 Capitol riots.
“Tonight I’m going to be signing on the J6 hostages, pardons to get them out,” Trump said at his inaugural parade Monday evening. “I’m going to the Oval Office and we’ll be signing pardons for a lot of people.”
More than 1,200 people were convicted of crimes related to the riots and only a couple hundred remain behind bars. The Department of Justice (DOJ) pursued prosecutions of Jan. 6 rioters in the immediate aftermath of the ordeal.
