Jan. 6 Rioters Released: Dangerous Criminals and MAGA Granny

Ethan Buckingham

Staff Writer

Washington- On his first day in office, Mr. Trump’s preliminary actions make clear what his new agenda is: Himself and his supporters. Among other things, Trump granted clemency to almost 2,000 criminal defendants involved in the January 6th attack on the American Capitol, while continuing to downplay his involvement, as well as the severity of the violent riot, incited by Mr. Trump’s tweets after losing the presidential race in 2021.

Handing out a whopping 1500 pardons, Trump did not pick and choose whom he was to release. According to Newsweek, Trump stated, “These people have been destroyed, What they’ve done to these people is outrageous. There’s rarely been anything like it in the history of our country.” What they did was go through the justice system for their crimes, hardly a rarity in the United States.

Many January 6th rioters did not have criminal records before their involvement in the attack on the Capitol, and though some have completed their sentences, some remained jailed for their crimes. Notably, January 6th rioters were charged with violently assaulting police members, theft, trespassing, and seditious conspiracy, along with disrupting a peaceful transition of power.

Mr. Trump is facing backlash at the national level as his “j6 hostages,” as he describes them, have not been happy customers after their releases. Matthew Huttle, 42, was shot and killed by police on Sunday, January 26th, 2025. The shooting occurred after Huttle got into a non described “altercation” and resisted arrest in Indiana during a traffic stop. Huttle had been in the capitol building during the attack, and was sentenced to six months, along with his uncle.

Daniel Bell, a Florida resident who had thrown an explosive into a group of police officers during the attack on January 6th, was released via Trump’s pardons. Bell was arrested days later on federal gun charges. Andrew Taake of Houston, released via pardon by Trump, was taken into custody for soliciting sex from a minor. Taake was serving 6 years for assaulting police officers during the attack on the capitol before he was released and rearrested.

Mr. Trump’s allies struggle to back these pardons, citing the criminal histories and violent natures of those released. South Carolinian Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Mr. Trump’s closest allies, spoke out against the pardons. According to CNN, Graham said, “I’ve always said that when you pardon people who attack police officers, you’re sending the wrong signal to the public at large.”

One of Mr. Trump’s “hostages” have spoken out against the dangerous nature of these pardons, and it’s none other than “MAGA Granny” herself, Pamela Hemphill, who pleaded guilty in her original trial. “Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation…I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative,” Hemphill told the BBC.

As more of these released criminals are recaptured or found re-engaged in crimes, Mr. Trump’s pardons will continue to be called into question. Hopefully the vast majority of his “hostages” understand, like Mrs. Hemphill, that they were simple criminals of the Justice System, serving time for their crimes against the country.