USA Trump pardons those convicted of Capitol attack

SDA

21.1.2025 - 02:02

dpatopbilder - US President Donald Trump holds up a pardon order in the Oval Office of the White House for people convicted in connection with the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP/dpa
dpatopbilder - US President Donald Trump holds up a pardon order in the Oval Office of the White House for people convicted in connection with the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP/dpa
Keystone

The new US President Donald Trump has pardoned numerous supporters convicted of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Trump signed an order to this effect at the White House in Washington just hours after his inauguration.

Keystone-SDA

It was initially unclear exactly how many people were affected - and what crimes they were convicted of in detail. People close to Trump, including his Vice President J.D. Vance, had said in advance that no one who had been violent would be pardoned. Trump, on the other hand, did not want to commit himself to details before his inauguration.

Trump had previously raved about the "great hostages" at an event in a sports arena to the cheers of supporters and added: "In most cases, they did nothing wrong." In his White House office, he said with regard to those affected: "We hope they get out tonight."

Trump's election campaign promise

A US president has the power to shorten the sentences of offenders convicted under federal law or to pardon convicts completely - even retrospectively, i.e. after they have served a sentence. During the election campaign, Trump had repeatedly promised to make use of this power to pardon supporters who had taken part in the storming of the Capitol. He referred to them as "political prisoners" and "hostages".

The attack

On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters violently stormed the seat of parliament in the capital, Washington. Congress had convened there at the time to formally confirm Democrat Joe Biden's victory against Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Five people died as a result of the riots.

Trump had stirred up his supporters in a speech beforehand by making the unsubstantiated claim that the election victory had been stolen from him through massive fraud. Since then, he has repeated this statement countless times. To this day, Trump has not conceded his defeat in the 2020 election. The unprecedented attack on US democracy is still having an impact today.