Fulfilling his campaign promise, Trump pardons more than 1,500 Jan. 6 protesters

President Donald Trump, in one of his first official acts, granted a sweeping pardon to the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

In doing so, Trump pardoned most of the defendants, even commuting the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militias, who were mostly convicted of seditious conspiracy.

"They've already been in jail for a long time," Trump said. "These people have been destroyed."

The thousands of pardons signed and issued by Trump, which are "full, complete and unconditional," will impact the lives of about 1,000 defendants charged with misdemeanors such as disorderly conduct, violating the restricted Capitol building and trespassing during the events of Jan. 6.

"This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated against the American people over the past four years and begins a process of national reconciliation," the pardon reads.

According to a report in the New York Times, in addition to pardoning more than 1,500 people involved in the events in a virtually unprecedented act of clemency, from a legal standpoint Trump succeeded with the pardons and commutations in striking down the largest criminal investigation undertaken by the Justice Department in its 155-year history.

"They wiped out all charges that had already been filed and sentences that had already been handed down, while preventing new cases from moving forward," the NYT stated.

The pardoned are released from prison

The pardon also reaches Cuban-American Enrique Tarrio, who had been sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6 events.

Tarrio, a former leader of the Proud Boys, had based his defense on the fact that he had not even been in Washington D.C. during the protests, as he was in a hotel in Baltimore, Maryland, 40 miles from the events. However, Judge Timothy Kelly had singled the man out as "the main leader of that conspiracy."

According to a representative for Tarrio, the man was released from a federal prison in Louisiana and was expected to return to Miami on Tuesday afternoon.

Another released in the last hours was the founder of Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes. A Reuters video shows him leaving prison:

Brothers Andrew and Matthew Valentin of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, also regained their freedom in the last few hours. This was confirmed by the White House liaison to the Justice Department, Paul Ingrassia: