Donald Trump said he wants to set up a ‘compensation fund’ for the people who were imprisoned for their roles in the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, two months after he pardoned them.
On his first day back in the White House, Trump said he was pardoning about 1,500 defendants and issuing six commutations, calling them ‘hostages.’
He also directed the attorney general to seek dismissal of about 450 pending criminal cases against Jan. 6 defendants.
The controversial decision fulfilled Trump’s promise to release supporters who tried to help him overturn his election defeat four years ago.
Speaking Tuesday, Trump said that he’s now looking to find a way to help them out after being suggested that he start up a ‘compensation fund.’
‘There’s a lot of talk about that,’ he said about the fund. ‘A lot of the people that are in government now talk about it because a lot of the people in government really like that group of people.’
Trump reiterated that he felt that those imprisoned were ‘patriots’ and added that Joe Biden had treated them ‘very unfairly.’
‘A group of people went down there, peacefully and patriotically, remember that,’ Trump added.
Donald Trump said he wants to set up a ‘compensation fund’ for the people who were imprisoned for their roles in the January 6 , 2021 riot at the Capitol , two months after pardoning them
On his first day back in the White House , Trump said he was pardoning about 1,500 defendants and issuing six commutations, calling them ‘hostages’
In reaction, liberals melted down over the plan as writer Ron Filipkowski among several others labeled the plan: ‘Reparations’
Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, however, added: ‘We should vote on this. They should demand a vote on this.’
Newsmax host Greg Kelly also asked Trump about Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a police officer as she attempted to break through a door while in the Capitol building.
The Department of Justice is still fighting a lawsuit filed by her family and Kelly asked: ‘Shouldn’t that be something that can just be settled at this point?’
Trump said that Babbitt ‘was a really good person’ and said that he would ‘look into that.’
The president’s controversial decision to pardon those involved in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was made with an expletive at the last minute.
As his team wrestled with the top issues to tackle on Inauguration Day, during their first hours in office, Trump weighed in, saying: ‘F **k it: Release ’em all,’ a source told Axios.
His decision to sign a blanket pardon for at least 1,500 people charged over the riot in Washington D.C. rankled many on his team and some officials in the Republican Party.
Unsurprisingly, liberals melted down over the plan, with writer Ron Filipkowski among several calling it: ‘Reparations’
Newsmax host Greg Kelly also asked Trump about Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a police officer as she attempted to break through a door while in the Capitol building. Trump said that Babbitt ‘was a really good person’ and said that he would ‘look into that’
While Trump had talked about pardons for some of the rioters, the blanket dispensation – including those who used violence and attacked police officers – came as a surprise to many.
The former leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, were both released from prison hours after Trump signed the clemency order.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, was serving an 18-year prison sentence.
Enrique Tarrio, of Miami, the former Proud Boys leader, was serving a 22-year sentence.
Trump supporters, meanwhile, shrugged off his decision to pardon all those involved.
‘He is who he is,’ a Trump official told NBC News. ‘Expectations are sometimes set as best as can be expected, and sometimes they change quickly.’
With a simple swipe of his pen, Trump released from prison his followers who were caught on camera breaking into the Capitol and fighting with police as they attempted to overthrow Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
His pardon proclamation on day one of his second term offered ‘a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.’
Trump’s pardon proclamation on day one of his second term offered ‘a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021’
The former leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, were both released from prison hours after Trump signed the clemency order
The federal Bureau of Prisons, by the next day, had released all of the more than 200 people in its custody for January 6 crimes, officials told The Associated Press.
Some critics pounced on Trump’s decision.
More than 150 police officers were injured on the day of insurrection and many blasted Trump for issuing the blanket get-out-jail-free card to his supporters.
Michael Fanone, a former police officer who was among those badly injured during the January 6 attacks, told NBC News the pardons were ‘outrageous’ but ‘shouldn’t come as a surprise to any American.’
‘The rule of law is dead in this country. We are now in the age of government lawlessness,’ Fanone said.
But the president defended his decision.
He called the prosecutions ‘ridiculous and excessive.’
Trump said he issued the pardons because in many cases, ‘these people have already served a long period of time, and I made a decision to give a pardon.’
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly vowed to pardon those in the Capitol that day.
But he also indicated he’d look at cases individually.
‘I’m going to do case-by-case, and if they were non-violent, I think they’ve been greatly punished,’ he told Time magazine during the campaign.
‘And the answer is, I will be doing that, yeah, I’m going to look if there’s some that really were out of control.’
