A few hours after being sworn into office in a ceremony that was held indoors due to low temperatures in Washington, Donald Trump, the new president of the United States, signed an executive order this Monday to pardon or commute the sentences of 1,500 convicted or indicted for participating in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In addition, he has commuted six sentences, it is understood that those who had more serious sentences. It was during the last days of his first presidency and at the end of a rally in which Trump urged them to storm Congress. It was also one of the darkest days in the recent history of democracy in the United States.
The new president had been warning for months that he would do so, because he considers what happened that dull January day in the capital as an “act of love” and as “hostages” and “incredible patriots” those who ended up before justice for their crimes. acts of insurrection, about 1,580 people, of whom about 1,200 have been convicted and about 650 have ended up in prison. Finally, he pardoned those who did not commit violent actions, and commuted the sentences of those who committed more serious crimes. Likewise, he ordered an end to the proceedings (about 300) against those who have not yet been judged.
Trump signed the order at a desk that the organization of his inauguration events placed to the left of the stage at Capital One stadium in downtown Washington, where celebrations continued after the swearing-in in the Capitol Rotunda. The same place where the attackers allowed themselves to be photographed and took selfies after getting the protection of the premises to give way on January 6, and before Trump, who attended the violent spectacle on television, finally told them through social networks to go home. One person died in the incidents (and four others who were involved in them in the following 36 hours). About 150 police officers were injured.
What came next was the “most important case the Department of Justice has ever undertaken in its history,” as Attorney General Merrick Garland described it. The hundreds of arrested and accused ended up before the federal district court in Washington. And about thirty of those convicted, with disparate sentences, ranging from a few days to 22 years that were given to Enrique Tarrio, leader of the extremist Proud Boys militia, in the same module of a prison in the southeast of the city.
There, every night of the last 900 days, relatives and supporters of the cause of the January 6 prisoners have gathered for a vigil in which they pray for the fate of their loved ones, swear the flag and connect with the inmates by telephone. This Monday was no exception, and some of them were gathered throughout the day, waiting for the big news to arrive at any moment, and given that at a rally on Sunday night, Trump said: “Tomorrow , everyone in this great stadium will be very happy with my decision regarding the hostages on January 6. “I would say about 99.9% of this beautiful stadium,” he said. Which gave rise to thinking that there would not be a general pardon.
