Two major far-right figures in the United States have been released from prison, just hours after President Donald Trump issued pardons for more than 1,500 people charged for their involvement in the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
A lawyer for Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys group, said he was released on Tuesday. He had been sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers militia, also was released shortly after midnight on Tuesday in Cumberland, Maryland. Trump commuted his 18-year prison sentence.
Rhodes and Tarrio were two of the highest-profile January 6 defendants and received some of the harshest punishments in the Justice Department’s years-long effort to investigate the insurrection at the US Capitol.
Trump had promised to pardon those charged in relation to the events of that day, when a mob of his supporters stormed the US legislature to try to prevent Congress from certifying his loss in the 2020 election.
Trump had repeated false claims that the election was stolen from him in the weeks leading up to the riot. He also urged his supporters to “fight like hell” and “stop the steal” during a rally shortly before the attack began.
Rhodes was sentenced in 2023 after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy, a rare charge that alleges the defendant plotted to undermine the authority of the US government or attack it.
Prosecutors had accused Rhodes of instructing members of the Oath Keepers to attack the US Capitol. Rhodes denied any wrongdoing and said he was the victim of politically motivated persecution.
“For decades, Mr Rhodes, it is clear you have wanted the democracy of this country to devolve into violence,” US District Judge Amit Mehta said in handing down the sentence.
“The moment you are released, whenever that may be, you will be ready to take up arms against your government.”
For his part, Tarrio was convicted of several charges, including seditious conspiracy. While Tarrio was not in Washington, DC, during the storming of the US Capitol, prosecutors said he organised and directed the Proud Boys who were there that day to attack.
In a statement confirming Tarrio’s release from prison, his family said he was expected to arrive in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday afternoon.
“We Thank You For Being With Us, The Golden Era Has Arrived!” the statement read, echoing Trump’s call for a “golden age” under his presidency.
Within hours of taking office on Monday, Trump granted clemency to everyone charged in relation to the riot. He pardoned more than 1,500 people and commuted the sentences of 14 others.
The move “ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation”, Trump said in a proclamation posted on the White House website.
Craig Sicknick, whose brother, Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, was assaulted during the riot and died of multiple strokes the next day, called Trump “pure evil” on Tuesday.
“The man who killed my brother is now president,” he told the Reuters news agency.
“My brother died in vain. Everything he did to try to protect the country, to protect the Capitol — why did he bother?” Sicknick said. “What Trump did is despicable, and it proves that the United States no longer has anything that resembles a justice system.”
Michael Fanone, a former officer with the Metropolitan Police Department who suffered severe injuries during the riot, also expressed outrage that the six people who assaulted him that day would walk free.
“I have been betrayed by my country,” he told CNN on Monday.
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