January 6 blanket pardons: clemency for an attack that preceded the president's own return to power

Clemency took effect for roughly 1,500 to 1,600 people. The pardons cancel restitution still owed toward nearly $3 million in Capitol cleanup and repair costs, of which defendants had repaid only 15% by summer 2024; by former Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer's count, recipients of the term's clemency owed more than $1 billion in restitution in all.

On January 20, 2025, Proclamation 10887 commuted to time served the sentences of 14 named January 6 defendants, among them Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, and granted 'a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.' Fox News identified the 14 as including numerous Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders. Roughly 1,600 people had been charged over the attack and more than 1,200 had pleaded guilty or been convicted; about 200 had pleaded guilty to felonies including assaulting officers, and more than 200 others were convicted at trial of offenses including attacking law enforcement. Trump said they had been 'treated very unfair' by prosecutors and the courts.

Presidential pardons wipe out court-ordered restitution and fines. The Justice Department and Capitol administrators estimated the cleanup and repair costs at nearly $3 million, of which January 6 defendants had reimbursed only 15% by summer 2024, so the pardons are expected to leave taxpayers covering most of the damage. By Oyer's count, recipients of Trump's second-term clemency cumulatively owed more than $1 billion in restitution.

Pardoning the people who attacked the certification of the election he lost, on his first day back in the office that certification exists to protect, used the clemency power to shield participants in an attack on the transfer of power that preceded the pardoning president's own return to it.

Documented

Legal (pardon power) but conflicted

2025-01-20 (Day One); Proclamation 10887 published 2025-01-29