Pro-Trump police union shrugs off Trump’s pardon of 'violent felons who assaulted cops'

21 January

The national Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which endorsed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, isn't interested in discussing the 47th president's mass pardons of insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte reached out to the FOP after Trump announced he was pardoning roughly 1,500 people charged and convicted in relation to the deadly siege of the Capitol, in which roughly 140 police officers were injured while battling rioters. Those injured during the insurrection included both members of the U.S. Capitol Police Department along with Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers.

"We don't have a statement about that," the FOP told Dáte, who tweeted that he specifically asked the union its thoughts on Trump "releasing HUNDREDS of violent felons who assaulted cops."

Trump's pardons included both those convicted of lower-level offenses like unlawful parading, and those convicted of seditious conspiracy (the most serious charge). The rioters who have been released from prison include high-profile defendants like Guy Reffitt, who brought a gun to the Capitol, and who was turned in by his own son.

Some of the officers who were attacked and testified publicly in the trials against insurrectionists received preemptive pardons from former President Joe Biden hours before Trump was sworn in. Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who provided testimony to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, was among those Biden pardoned. He recently shared a screenshot of his call log with former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, which showed automated alerts from the Department of Justice letting him know that defendants he testified against have since been released from prison.

"The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense," Biden stated after issuing the pardons. "Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country."

Click here to read Dáte's tweet.

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