Jan 6 Rioters Pardoned by Trump Have Message for the President [Video]

The January 6 rioters who received pardons from Donald Trump have a message for the new president.

“I’m thankful for promises that were made, promises that were kept,” Isabella Maria DeLuca, a 24-year-old social media influencer charged in the Capitol attack, told Newsweek on Tuesday. “When so many Republicans were turning their back on J6ers, he wasn’t.”

Hours after taking office on Monday, Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 of his supporters who were charged in connection to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, and commuted the remaining 14 prison sentences. The move, which went beyond the scope many were expecting, was a major blow to the sweeping federal prosecution that began more than four years ago when thousands of people stormed to the Capitol in an effort to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Flexing his clemency powers, Trump sought to rewrite that narrative on his first day back at the White House, casting the rioters as “patriots” and “hostages” who were unfairly prosecuted by a politically-motivated Justice Department.

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