To accept Trump's pardon would be "a slap in the face of the rule of law principle", according to Pamela Hemphill.
I was guilty. I didn't understand then that Maga (Make America Great Again) is a sect, she says to Sky News.
Hemphill received 60 days in prison for her role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Joe Biden was formally declared the winner after the 2020 election. It wasn't until later that she began to question what she now calls "Trump's big lie" about the election being stolen.
Trump is a really dangerous narcissist, she says.
When you're in the Maga sect, you get so manipulated. They tell you not to listen to anyone else but Trump. And you go along and don't do any research of your own.
None of those involved in the storming should have been pardoned, Hemphill believes. To pardon violent rioters – such as members of the far-right groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers – and release them from prison risks fuelling more violence, she says to Sky News.
It's like giving them a free pass to exercise even more violence.
