Trump issues sweeping pardon of supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday said he was pardoning about 1,500 of his supporters who have been charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, using his sweeping clemency powers on his first day back in office to dismantle the largest investigation and prosecution in Justice Department history.

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The pardons were expected after Trump’s years-long campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured and threatened the peaceful transfer of power.

Yet the scope of the clemency still comes as a massive blow to the Justice Department’s effort to hold participants accountable over what has been described as one of the darkest days in American history.

Trump said he was also commuting the sentences of six defendants, though the White House did not immediately provide further details.

Trump had suggested in the weeks leading up to his return to the White House that he was going to look at the Jan. 6 defendants on a case-by-case basis. Vice President JD Vance had said just days ago that people responsible for the violence during the Capitol riot “obviously” should not be pardoned.

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