Anger over Trump’s pardon of January 6 Capitol rioters

Donald Trump’s pardon of more than 1,500 of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol four years ago drew criticism on Tuesday from police who battled the mob, their families and at least one of the president’s fellow Republicans.

Trump granted clemency to everyone charged with joining the Jan. 6, 2021, assault in a failed bid to overturn his election defeat. Some 140 police officers were injured in the rampage which sent lawmakers running for their lives.

Craig Sicknick, whose brother, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, was assaulted during the riot and died of multiple strokes the next day, called Trump “pure evil” on Tuesday.

“The man who killed my brother is now president,” he said.

“My brother died in vain. Everything he did to try to protect the country, to protect the Capitol – why did he bother?” Sicknick told Reuters. “What Trump did is despicable, and it proves that the United States no longer has anything that resembles a justice system.”

Michael Fanone, a former officer with Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department who suffered severe injuries during the riot, said on Monday he was upset that six people who assaulted him that day would walk free.
“I have been betrayed by my country,” he told CNN.

Trump’s clemency extended from the people who committed only misdemeanors such as trespassing to those who attacked police officers and to the far smaller group who planned the assault on democracy.

One of Trump’s fellow Republicans, Senator Thom Tillis, said pardoning rioters who assaulted police sent a wrong message.

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“I saw an image today in my news clippings of the people who were crushing that police officer. None of them should get a pardon,” Tillis told Reuters in a hallway interview. “You make this place less safe if you send the signal that police officers could potentially be assaulted and there is no consequence.”

– Campaign promise –

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt defended the pardons, claiming without evidence that many of the convictions were politically motivated.

“President Trump campaigned on this promise,” she said on Fox News. “It should come as no surprise that he delivered on it on Day One.”

More than 1,000 defendants pleaded guilty rather than go to trial, including 327 who pleaded guilty to felonies, according to Justice Department statistics.

One protester, Ashli Babbitt, was shot dead by police during the Jan. 6 riot as she tried to force her way into the House of Representatives chamber. Four officers who responded that day later died by suicide.

Trump’s were not the only pardons on Monday: Outgoing President Joe Biden in his final hours in office pre-emptively pardoned five members of his own family, a move that followed his pardon last year of son Hunter Biden, who had been charged with tax fraud and an illegal firearms purchase. The Democrat had previously pledged not to pardon his son.

Tillis also criticized Biden’s pardons.

An attorney for Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys, said he was released on Tuesday. Tarrio was not present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but was sentenced to 22 years, the longest imposed on any defendant, after he was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in planning the attack.

Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers militia who had his 18-year prison sentence commuted, was released shortly after midnight on Tuesday 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, D.C.

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Rhodes was one of 14 people whom Trump released from prison early, commuting their sentences, without fully pardoning them. That means they will continue to face some restrictions, including a ban on owning firearms.

– Largest investigation in Justice Department history –

Trump’s action shutters the largest investigation in Justice Department history, including more than 300 cases that had still been pending. Prosecutors filed dozens of motions to dismiss cases on Tuesday morning, federal court records showed.

In Washington, the trial of Kenneth Fuller and his son Caleb, who faced felony charges of obstructing police during a civil disorder, came to an abrupt end on Tuesday.

Federal judges in Washington – including some appointed by Trump – have for years handled Capitol riot cases and spoken of their alarm at the events of the day. At a November hearing, Trump-nominated U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said a blanket Jan. 6 pardon would be “beyond frustrating or disappointing,” according to a court transcript.

The judge presiding over the Fullers’ trial, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, ordered it dismissed without discussion, noting that her ruling satisfied what she called Trump’s edict.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Caleb Fuller, 22, told reporters that he and his parents popped a bottle of champagne in their hotel room after hearing Trump’s decision on Monday night.
Fuller said he didn’t witness any violence during the riot.

“I didn’t see anyone get hurt,” he said. “So I feel like everyone that was around me is deserving of a pardon.”

The attack was spurred by Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his loss to Biden, which threatened the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in U.S. history.

The sweeping action went further than many of Trump’s allies had signaled. Both Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s attorney general choice Pam Bondi had previously said they believed people who committed violence were unlikely to be pardoned.

Others due for release included Dominic Pezzola, who was accused of stealing a police officer’s riot shield and using it to smash a window, beginning the breach of the Capitol.

Attorney Norm Pattis, who represents Rhodes and two other Jan. 6 leaders, disputed the notion that the clemency would lead to an increase in political violence.

“Our politics has always been violent,” Pattis said, pointing to events ranging from the Civil War to the protests of the 1960s that sometimes led to bloodshed. “Violence is the norm in this country.”

Anger over Trump’s pardon of January 6 Capitol rioters

18 US states sue Trump, challenging cancellation of birthright citizenship 

Eighteen states in the United States have filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to stop birthright citizenship.

The attorneys general of the Democratic states filed the suit jointly on Tuesday.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, stipulates that all persons “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” are automatically citizens.

This was initially meant to establish full citizenship rights for Black Americans, who at the time suffered exclusion.

But for over a century, it has been interpreted as also granting rights to all children born in the US, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

After his inauguration on Monday, Trump invoked his presidential orders to begin his long-touted immigration crackdown.
A statement issued by the White House said the interpretation was misplaced, “clarifying” that the privilege does not extend to children whose parents are not US citizens.

The lawsuit filed by the 18 states said Trump’s initiative violates the law.

The states that joined the suit are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

The New York Attorney-General, Letitia James, said the law is a cornerstone of America’s commitment to justice and is not open to reinterpretation by executive order or presidential decree.

“President Trump’s attempt to undermine the fundamental right to birthright citizenship is not just unconstitutional; it is profoundly dangerous,” James said.

“Today, we are suing to uphold the integrity of the US. Constitution and ensure the promise of birthright citizenship remains intact for all who are born here.”

Trump’s aides hinted that the executive order would take effect 30 days after he signed it.

The Democratic officials also filed a request asking the court to put the case on a fast track and rule on whether to block enforcement before it takes effect.

See major executive orders signed by Trump few hours after inauguration

On his first day in office as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump wasted no time in taking action.

He signed several executive orders addressing key issues such as climate change, immigration, and more. Additionally, Trump issued sweeping pardons for numerous individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots.

Some of the orders fulfilled campaign promises from his 2024 presidential run, while others, like the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), came as a surprise.

Immigration

Trump signed various orders aimed at reshaping how the United States manages immigration and citizenship.

One declared a national emergency at the southern border.

Trump also promised a mass deportation operation involving the military, which he says will target those he called “criminal aliens.”

In the Oval Office, Trump signed an order revoking birthright citizenship.

But automatic US citizenship to people born in the country is enshrined in the Constitution, and Trump’s action is certain to face a legal challenge.

Trump signed pardons for some of the 1,500 participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters trying to overturn the 2020 election.

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He again referred to those who were convicted or pleaded guilty over the riots as “hostages.”

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Trump repealed various executive orders promoting diversity programs and LGBTQ equality, in line with his promised attack on “woke” culture.

He overturned decrees promoting diversity and equality in the government, businesses and healthcare, as well as the rights of LGBTQ Americans.

Trump said that moving forward the US government will only recognize “two genders, male and female.”

Paris Climate Accord

The president immediately withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord, repeating an action he took during his first term.

The order extends Trump’s defiant rejection of global efforts to combat planetary warming as catastrophic weather events intensify worldwide.

It would take a year to leave the agreement after submitting a formal notice to the United Nations framework that underpins global climate negotiations.

Oil drilling

Trump signed an order declaring a “national energy emergency” aimed at significantly expanding drilling in the world’s top oil and gas producer.

“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in his inaugural address.

Work from home

Another order requires federal workers to return to the office full-time, with Trump seeking to undo most of the work-from-home allowances that flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leaving WHO

Trump signed an order for the United States to exit the World Health Organization, insisting Washington was unfairly paying more than China into the UN body.

TikTok

The president ordered a 75-day pause on enforcing a law that would effectively ban TikTok.

His action delayed the implementation of an act that came into effect this week, prohibiting the distribution and updating of TikTok in the United States.

Trump has said the app’s Chinese parent company must agree to sell a fifty percent share to the United States.

West Bank settlers

Trump revoked sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank accused of abuses against Palestinians, undoing an unprecedented action taken by Joe Biden’s administration.

Cuba

Reversing another one of Biden’s more recent moves, Trump removed Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism.

Biden had removed Cuba from the list only days earlier as part of a deal to free prisoners.

See major executive orders signed by Trump few hours after inauguration

(AFP)