BREAKING: Trump Signs Clemency Action for 1500+ J6 ‘Hostages’

Another promise kept. 

Donald Trump started his executive-order “shock and awe” at the Capital One Arena this evening, signing nine EOs with administration-wide impacts,. The first EO signed by Trump reversed 78 EOs and other directives by Joe Biden. He then left the indoor parade and rally to return to the Oval Office, where Trump issued a pardon for nearly all of the 1500+ January 6 defendants.  Six received commutations instead of pardons:

BREAKING

President Trump has granted full pardons to over 1,500 January 6th participants.

He has also granted six commutations to individuals whose cases, he says, require more research. He stated that upon further review, he may grant them full pardons.

His order directs the…

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 21, 2025

As I’m writing this post, Trump is still working through all of the EOs he promised to sign tonight. He’s also taking questions on the fly from reporters in the Oval Office:

When Trump signed the pardon for the J6 “hostages,” he ordered his aides to deliver it ASAP to the Bureau of Prisons. That should prompt their immediate release.

The WSJ reported on the clemency action:

President Trump indicated Monday that he granted full pardons to nearly all defendants involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and commuted the sentence of six. The move delivered on a polarizing campaign pledge to give clemency to supporters who joined in what federal judges and prosecutors have called an attack on American democracy.

Trump issued the pardons within hours of taking the oath of office, using one of the first acts of his second presidential term to grant reprieves to the people who stormed and ransacked the Capitol as Congress convened to certify former President Joe Biden’s victory. The pardons wiped away criminal charges and convictions stemming from what law-enforcement officials have described as the largest investigation in U.S. history.

A pardon does not wipe the convictions or charges away. A pardon wipes away the legal consequences of convictions, but the convictions stay on the record unless a court later expunges the record. Obviously, a pardon doesn’t give people back the time they lost in prison and defending themselves in court either, a point that Trump himself raised while discussing it with reporters. 

Get ready for a massive release of these prisoners as soon as tonight.