Trump to sign pardons for January 6 rioters after inauguration

Trump repeatedly pledged during his election campaign to pardon those who took part in the attack, calling them “hostages”, “patriots” and “political prisoners”.

Trump, whose first term as President ended under the cloud of the Capitol assault, has repeatedly played down the unprecedented violence of January 6, even going so far as to describe it as a “day of love”.

More than 140 police officers were injured in hours of clashes with rioters wielding flagpoles, baseball bats, hockey sticks and other makeshift weapons along with Tasers and canisters of bear spray.

The assault on the Capitol followed a fiery speech by then-President Trump to tens of thousands of his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 race. He then encouraged the crowd to march on Congress.

Trump was charged by special counsel Jack Smith with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

But the case never made it to trial, and was dropped under the Justice Department’s policy of not prosecuting a sitting President.

According to the latest figures from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 1583 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol siege, including 608 accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers.

– Agence France-Presse