'Release ’em all': How Trump decided on broad, across-the-board 'clemency' for Jan. 6 rioters

22 January

During a pre-inauguration appearance on "Fox News Sunday," now-Vice President JD Vance applauded Donald Trump's promise to pardon the January 6 defendants. But he made a distinction between those who were violent and attacked police officers and those who didn't engage in overt acts of violence.

Vance told Fox News, "If you committed violence that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned."

But on Monday night, January 20 — President Trump's first night back in the White House — he issued a sweeping pardon of roughly 1500 January 6 rioters, including those who assaulted police officers when they invaded the U.S. Capitol Building.

According to Axios reporter Marc Caputo, Trump's team "wrestled with the issue" of January 6 pardons. But a GOP source told Axios, "Trump just said: 'F--k it: Release 'em all.'"

Caputo, in an article published on January 22, explains, "Trump's decision was a surprise to some Republicans in Congress, who grimaced at the appearance of the new president condoning violence against police officers. On January 7, 2021, the day after his supporters rioted at the Capitol to protest the 2020 election, Trump decried those who 'defiled' the building. But as his own legal problems mounted during his campaign, Trump came to embrace the cause of those charged in the riot."

The Axios reporter adds, "On the campaign trail, he began playing a version of the National Anthem sung by jailed protestors who called themselves the 'J6 Prison Choir.'"

During a December 8, 2024 appearance on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Caputo notes, Trump promised that he "would be acting very quickly" with January 6 pardons but said, "We're going to look at individual cases."

But according to Caputo, the "case-by-case review" of January 6 rioters "was onerous" for Trump's allies and advisers.

"Trump staffers wondered whom to pardon and who might slip through the cracks," Caputo reports. "Time was running out heading into Inauguration Day. Trump wanted to pardon as many people as possible and get it over with, so he landed on clemency for everyone."

Read Axios' full article at this link.

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