Wednesday, February 12, 2025
29 C
Brunei Town
More

    Trump pardons of Capitol rioters spark jubilation, outrage

    WASHINGTON (AFP) – United States (US) President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons of Capitol rioters drew starkly contrasting reactions on Tuesday, largely embraced by his Republican supporters and vehemently condemned by Democrats.

    Former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced as “shameful” Trump’s pardons of participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the congressional session held to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

    “The president’s actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution,” Pelosi said.

    A former Washington police officer who was repeatedly shocked with a Taser and badly beaten by members of the pro-Trump mob Michael Fanone said he has been “betrayed by my country”.

    “And I’ve been betrayed by those that supported Donald Trump,” Fanone told CNN. “The leader of the Republican Party pardoned hundreds of violent cop assaulters. Six individuals who assaulted me as I did my job on January 6… will now walk free.”

    But the pardons were welcomed by January 6 defendants and their Republican backers.

    The “QAnon Shaman” who became one of the faces of the Capitol riot because of his red Jacob Chansley, white and blue face paint, bare chest and unusual horned headgear, welcomed the pardon in a post on X.

    “I GOT A PARDON BABY! THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!!!” said Chansley. “J6ers are getting released & JUSTICE HAS COME…”

    “Bless President Trump!!!” said far-right Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene.

    “It’s finally over. J6’ers are being released,” Greene said on X. “Never forget what the Democrats did.”

    Trump, hours after being sworn in on Monday, granted the pardons to more than 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol including those convicted of assaulting police officers.

    He described them as “hostages” and ordered that all pending criminal cases against Capitol riot defendants be dropped.

    Not all Republican lawmakers were as ecstatic as Greene about the blanket pardons.

    Anybody who is “convicted of assault on a police officer – I can’t get there at all. I think it was a bad idea,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina told Spectrum News.

    Supporters of United States President Donald Trump stand with their flags in support of people convicted for their part in the riot at the US Capitol. PHOTO: AP
    spot_img

    Related News

    spot_img