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Supporters of Donald Trump, facing charges related to the storming of the US Capitol, are now anticipating pardons from the newly elected American president, who has praised them as “patriots” and referred to them as “political prisoners.”
The January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, which sought to derail the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory, has led to over 1,500 individuals facing charges, according to ongoing legal proceedings.
Trump, whose presidency ended under the shadow of the Capitol insurrection, told a CNN town hall that he was “inclined to pardon many of them,” a promise he reiterated on several occasions during his 2024 campaign to win back the Oval Office.
“I can’t say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed the violence on January 6, even going so far as to refer to it as a “day of love” in his most recent comments on the matter.
More than 140 police officers were injured in hours of clashes with rioters wielding flagpoles, baseball bats, hockey sticks and other makeshift weapons along with Tasers and canisters of bear spray.
The assault on the Capitol followed a fiery speech by then-president Trump to tens of thousands of his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 race.
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Several Capitol riot defendants have already seized upon Trump’s election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris to ask that their trials or sentencing be put on hold.
Christopher Carnell, a 21-year-old from North Carolina, asked that a status hearing in his disorderly conduct case be delayed in light of Trump’s “multiple clemency promises.”
Carnell, his lawyer said, “is expecting to be relieved of the criminal prosecution that he is currently facing when the new administration takes office.”
