WASHINGTON — Rioters locked up for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack were released while judges began dismissing dozens of pending cases Tuesday after President Donald Trump's sweeping grant of clemency to all 1,500-plus people charged in the insurrection that shook the foundation of American democracy. With the stroke of a pen on his first day back in the White House, Trump's order upended the largest prosecution in Justice Department history, freeing from prison people caught on camera viciously attacking police as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after his 2020 election loss.
More than 200 people convicted of Jan. 6 crimes were released from federal Bureau of Prisons custody by Tuesday morning, officials told The Associated Press. The pardons and commutations cement Trump's efforts to downplay the violence that left more than 100 police officers injured as the mob fueled by his lies about the 2020 election stormed the Capitol and halted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.
President Donald Trump supporters Kevin Loftus, left, and William Sarsfield III, who were convicted for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S.
Capitol, talk to reporters Tuesday in Washington after being pardoned and released from the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center. Trump's decision to grant clemency to even rioters who assaulted police — whom his own vice pres.
