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Trump downplays Jan. 6 and pardons 1,500 convicted felons: ‘They were protesting rigged elections’

President calls violence in Congress “minimal incidents” and defends decision to pardon even those who assaulted police officers

From the regained White House, Donald Trump rewrites the narrative of Jan. 6, 2021, the day thousands of his supporters stormed Congress, terrorizing congressmen and senators and assaulting dozens of officers. According to Trump, what happened that day boils down to “minimal incidents,” and his choice to sign pardons for 1,500 of those convicted and indicted for the events on Capitol Hill reflects the legitimacy of what he calls a “protest.”

Statements to Fox News

Interviewed by Sean Hannity on Fox News, Trump reiterated, “Those people were protesting rigged elections. They should have had the right to protest.” The president added that many of those pardoned were “absolutely innocent” and had served sentences he called “horrific.” “We are talking about 1,500 people; we could not analyze each case individually.”

The decision to grant such a broad pardon was motivated, according to Axios, by Trump’s desire to have a grand gesture from his first day back in the White House. Despite initially being told that cases of violence, especially against police officers, would be excluded from the pardon, Trump reportedly ordered it to include everyone, stating, “Screw it, release them all.”

Criticism of trial management

Regarding the Jan. 6-related trials, Trump called them a “political hoax,” claiming that videos of the attacks on policemen were allegedly exaggerated by the media. “They were minimal incidents amplified by fake CNN reporters. There was a lot of patriotism in those people,” he said.

A divisive gesture

Trump’s decision has already drawn strong reactions, with criticism from both the Democratic opposition and some in the Republican Party. For many, the gesture represents a dangerous normalization of political violence and a blow to the principles of zero tolerance toward assaults on law enforcement on which Trump had based part of his campaign.

The pardon granted to prominent figures, such as militia leaders convicted of sedition, could fuel new political and social tensions, reopening still-fresh wounds in American democracy.

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