A Pardon Fit for America's Dumbest
Let them all go, now!— Donald Trump
During Joe Biden’s presidency, Donald Trump called for the release of people imprisoned over the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. In November 2022, he announced on Truth Social, “Let them all go, now!”
In 2025, two days into his second term, Trump signed an executive order granting a full pardon to almost all individuals “convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” according to the White House. Fourteen members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers instead had their sentences commuted. Ten had been convicted of seditious conspiracy, according to CNN.
In April 2026, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to throw out the convictions of 12 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members who had appealed. According to The New York Times , throwing the cases out entirely would spare the department from defending the convictions—a task that would likely require it to argue that the groups had acted on Trump’s behalf.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in Washington, D.C., granted this request, citing "practical" reasons.
More than 1,500 people received clemency. At least 600 of them were charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement.
The Justice Department planned to create the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which could have financially compensated those pardoned. The department ultimately backed down after receiving bipartisan pushback from Congress.