President Trump pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 defendants Monday, making good on the long-standing campaign promise just hours into his presidency.
“What they’ve done to these people is outrageous,” Trump said while signing various orders from the Oval Office, his first time in the White House since he was inaugurated early in the day.
He briefly said Monday night that he would grant roughly 1,500 pardons for rioters charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. There have been 1,583 total defendants charged.
The pardons clear the way for potentially hundreds of his supporters to be released from prison in coming days, some of whom were sentenced to years in prison for violently attacking law enforcement that day.
They came just hours after former President Biden in the 11th hour of his presidency issued preemptive pardons for members and staff of the House Jan. 6 committee, which investigated the riot.
Updated 8:03 p.m.
