The first paragraph of Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States grants the president “Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Donald Trump, keeping a campaign promise he made many times, acted within hours of retaking the White House.
President Donald Trump has pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers, using his clemency powers on his first day back in office to undo the massive prosecution of the unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy.
Trump’s action, just hours after his return to the White House on Monday, paves the way for the release from prison of people found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
Even a brief review of this crew includes many men and women who hardly qualify as “unbelievable patriots,” as Trump asserted on the campaign trail. Marjorie Taylor Greene spent hours lobbying Trump to pardon everyone convicted. Said she: “Even the ones that fought Capitol Police, caused damage to the Capitol, I think they’ve served their time and I think they should all be pardoned and released from prison.” As recently as two weeks ago, other House Republicans, including Jim Jordon, would not go that far. They drew the line at violence, as did JD Vance: “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”
Donald Trump had no qualms. For the president, violence on his behalf is not just okay; it is the stuff of patriots. He has celebrated and continues to celebrate such violence. In 2020, Trump advised the Proud Boys, “Stand back and stand by.” In 2025, he has rewarded them — and everyone else convicted of violence on January 6 — as only a president can. Trump’s Get Out Of Jail Free card grants them the status of MAGA folk heroes as he sends them back to our communities.
With these pardons and commutations, with the order to DOJ to stop all prosecutions, Trump has sent a signal to all that he will govern — to the furthest extent possible — as an authoritarian. This is not a surprise for anyone paying attention. This was his promise. This is a pattern we have all watched play out.
And then there’s the Ross Ulbricht pardon:
“Even if you’ve got mixed feelings about Silk Road, his sentencing was based, in part, on evidence that he ordered the murder of an witness, an informant, and three others.” Silk Road was an illegal drug marketplace powered by bitcoin trades. This pardon, too, was a Trump campaign promise made to the Libertarian National Convention as an explicit quid pro quo: “And if you vote for me, on Day One, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.”
Trump intends to govern as an authoritarian. Nothing could be clearer. We have seen it with our own eyes.
Leave a Reply