The leaders of the ultranationalist organizations Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were released from prison this Tuesday (01/21/2025) thanks to the pardon and commutations that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, granted to those accused of the assault on the Capitol on January 6 of 2021 after his inauguration.
The release of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is loaded with symbolism, because they were the two organizations that led the violent assault and because the order came into effect a few hours after Trump issued it. would sign. Their lawyers confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that they had been released hours after Trump’s pardon. This presidential pardon, one of the Republican’s electoral promises, was one of the first executive orders he signed and, he said, will affect nearly 1,500 of those accused of the attack that sought to prevent the certification of former President Joe Biden’s victory in the elections. of 2020.
“The man who killed my brother is now president”
Among those pardoned, whom Trump referred to as “hostages,” the order highlights the commutation of sentences of 14 members of the extremist organizations of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, including their leaders. One of them was Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Tarrio, for his part, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the crime of “sedition” by a judge in the District of Columbia. More than 730 people have been convicted for their participation in that attempted insurrection, according to data from the Department of Justice, and about 300 are still awaiting trial, some for violent crimes, such as assaults on police officers. Four people died in the assault on the Capitol and more than 140 officers were injured.
The measure has not pleased his relatives. Craig Sicknick, whose brother was assaulted during the riot and died of multiple strokes the next day, called Trump “pure evil.” “My brother died in vain. Everything he did to try to protect the country, to protect the Capitol, why did he bother?” Sicknick told Reuters. “What Trump did is despicable and shows that the United States no longer has anything resembling a justice system.” “The man who killed my brother is now president,” he said.
lgc (efe, rtr, ap)
