Donald Trump supporters who were charged with storming the US Capitol are now expecting pardons from the incoming American president, who has lauded them as “patriots” and “political prisoners.”
More than 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the January 6, 2021 assault on Congress which sought to disrupt certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
“I am inclined to pardon many of them,” Trump, whose first term as president ended under the cloud of the attack, said at a CNN town hall, one of a number of times he made the pledge during his 2024 bid to retake the White House.
“I can’t say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly played down the violence of January 6, even going so far as to describe it recently as a “day of love.”
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.
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.”
Judge Beryl Howell denied the request.