WASHINGTON, DC – After President Donald Trump granted over 1,500 pardons and commutations for criminals convicted in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, including those who planned the attack and violently assaulted law enforcement officers, injuring 140 police officers and temporarily halting Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election, U.S. Senator Jack Reed issued the following statement:

“Those who organized and violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 waged a deadly assault on our democracy.  They were convicted for their heinous actions, which included a coordinated, brutal assault on law enforcement officers who bravely risked their lives and seditious conspiracy.  Police officers were savagely beaten that day with an array of weapons in these planned, coordinated attacks. 

“All received due process under the law and either voluntarily pleaded guilty or were convicted in open court by a jury of their peers or a Senate confirmed federal judge.  In most cases, they received lighter sentences than what prosecutors had sought. 

“This should not be a partisan issue.  Indeed, in the days after January 6, several of my Republican colleagues specifically called for Federal law enforcement to ‘arrest and prosecute the domestic terrorists who broke into our Capitol . . . to the fullest extent of the law.’

“Trump’s pardon of these offenders is an insult to law enforcement, the rule of law, and our democracy.  With these pardons, Donald Trump is sending a dog whistle to other extremists that political violence is okay as long as it is done under the banner of Trump.

“The president has the power to pardon, but he can’t erase this historic stain on his record or whitewash history.”