Two Capitol Attack Leaders Released After Being Pardoned by Trump
Supporters of the Capitol attack leaders. X/ @PietroSalvatori
January 21, 2025 Hour: 1:38 pm
The U.S. President pardoned hundreds of members of the ultranationalist organizations Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
On Tuesday, the leaders of ultranationalist organizations were released from prison thanks to the pardon granted by U.S. President Donald Trump to those who stormed the Capitol in 2021.
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The release of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was highly symbolic because those two organizations led the violent assault.
This presidential pardon was one of the first executive orders Trump signed and will affect about 1,500 people charged in the attack that aimed to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Among those pardoned, whom Trump referred to as “hostages,” the order highlights the commutation of sentences for 14 members of the extremist organizations Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, including their names.
One of them was Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Tarrio was sentenced by a judge in the District of Columbia to 22 years in prison for “seditious conspiracy.”
A group of Trump supporters gathered outside the detention center in the U.S. capital, waiting for their release. However, it is unclear when all the pardons will take effect.
On Monday, while Trump was taking office, nearly fifty Proud Boys activists marched through the streets of Washington, escorted by police, who kept them separated from spontaneous anti-Trump protesters who verbally clashed with them.
According to data from the Department of Justice, over 730 people have been convicted for their involvement in the Capitol assault, with 300 of them still awaiting trial for violent offenses. In the far-right insurrection attempt, four people died, and more than 140 officers were injured.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
