More than 1,500 people are affected by the president's order: 14 of them receive shorter sentences, the rest are unconditionally pardoned. Proud Boys member Gabriel Augustin Garcia, sentenced to one year in prison for serious crimes during the storming, celebrated by cutting off his ankle monitor, according to NBC News.
It was about time. Justice has prevailed, he says to the media company.
Among those pardoned are several who were convicted of serious violence against police officers in connection with the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Joe Biden was formally elected as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Hundreds stormed the Congress and clashed with police. Nine deaths have been linked to the riots.
This is what the American people are voting for. How do you react to that? asks former police officer Michael Fanone, who suffered a heart attack when a rioter used a stun gun against him, to news agency AP.
"Turning point"
For four years, he has been constantly worried about his and his family's safety. Now that his attacker is being pardoned, it increases his worry, he says.
Enrique Tarrio, who then led the far-right Proud Boys, is according to CNN one of those who are now preparing to leave prison. Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison in September 2023 – the longest sentence handed out for the storming. He receives a full pardon from Trump.
"This is a pivotal moment in our client's life and symbolizes a turning point for our country", says Tarrio's lawyer Nayib Hassan in a statement.
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group Oath Keepers, has his 18-year sentence shortened.
We are deeply grateful for President Trump's actions today, says his lawyer James Lee Bright to AP.
First released
Through the pardon, Trump legitimizes the deadly uprising and signals that political violence has no consequences, says Professor Nicole Hemmer at Vanderbilt University to The Washington Post.
It increases concerns about authoritarian tendencies in the incoming government, she says.
Several Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate leader Chuck Schumer, have reacted strongly to Trump's announcement.
"Donald Trump is ushering in a golden age for people who break the law and try to overthrow the government", says Schumer in an email to AP.
It is unclear how quickly the pardoned will be released. Already shortly before midnight on Monday, local time, according to ABC News the first were released from a prison in Washington.
On January 6, 2021, members of the US Congress gathered in the Capitol to count the presidential election electoral votes and formally elect Democrat Joe Biden as the winner and next president.
In the capital Washington DC, tens of thousands of supporters of Donald Trump had also gathered for a political mass rally on the theme "Save America". At the rally, Trump repeated his false claims of systematic electoral fraud and claimed that he was the real winner. He urged his supporters to go to Congress.
If you don't fight like hell, you won't have a country anymore, Trump said.
Parts of the crowd did as he said. The protests turned violent when hundreds of people stormed the Congress building and clashed with police. Some took over one of the chambers and parts of the building were vandalized.
Nine deaths can be linked to the storming, according to AP.
