Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll look at some of the Jan. 6 rioters whom President Donald J. Trump pardoned or whose sentences he commuted in a sweeping set of executive orders.
Nearly 1,600 people charged with taking part in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by President Donald J. Trump this week. A number of the criminal defendants had ties to New York, as my colleague Ed Shanahan reported, and had been convicted on an array of charges, from trespassing to assaulting law enforcement officers. But this sweeping action has wiped clean the slate for them.
A White House proclamation called the pardons an end to a “grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation.”
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, criticized the action.
“Donald Trump is ushering in a Golden Age for people that break the law and attempt to overthrow the government,” he said.
Those with ties to New York who garnered widespread attention during the riot included:
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Thomas Webster: A former Marine and a retired New York City police officer, Webster was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being caught on video shoving through a police line and then swinging a flagpole at and tackling an officer. He made a self-defense claim at trial, but the jury rejected it.
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Dominic Pezzola: Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys and a contractor from Rochester, was found guilty on six felony counts, including charges of assaulting an officer and conspiring to keep members of Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. He became known as a main actor in the riot when video clips showing him breaking a window at the Capitol surfaced online.
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Roberto Minuta: Minuta is a former Oath Keeper. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for seditious conspiracy related to the riot. He has since tried to distance himself from the group, suggesting at his sentencing that he had been misled by it.
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Thomas Sibick: After pleading guilty to assaulting a Metropolitan Police officer during the riot, Sibick was sentenced to just over four years in prison. He took responsibility for his actions in a letter to the judge, calling the trauma the officer had experienced “undeniably sickening.”
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Sara Carpenter: Carpenter, also a former New York City police officer, was ordered to spend 22 months in prison after being convicted of several crimes that involved her pushing and slapping officers while wielding a tambourine and yelling.
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Edward Jacob Lang: Lang was charged with a series of crimes connected to the riot and had been in jail awaiting his trial when Trump issued the blanket pardon. Investigators arrested Lang after tracing a string of social media posts back to him. Court records said that the social media posts showed Lang swinging a baseball bat at police officers and thrusting a riot shield in their direction.
Weather
Today will gradually become sunny with a high near 31. Expect a breezy evening with a mostly clear sky and a low around 19.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
Suspended to aid weather operations.
The latest New York news
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A chef toils in obscurity: For people like Nduvo Salaam, the private chef at a deluxe dining room on the 100th Floor of Central Park Tower, it can be lonely at the top.
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Steve Bannon wins a delay: A judge granted Bannon’s request for new representation and delayed his trial by one week. Bannon faces charges that he fleeced donors who thought they were helping to build a wall on the border.
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Charged with smuggling and wire fraud: The owner of a Manhattan medical spa knowingly injected clients with counterfeit Botox, sending several of them to the hospital, prosecutors said. He did so without a proper license.
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On trial for murder: The trial of three men linked to a series of robberies and murders that rocked New York’s L.G.B.T.Q. community and spread fear throughout the city began with opening statements.
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Convicted of punching a civilian: Christian Zapata, a former New York City police officer, hit a man in the face repeatedly after being called to help calm an autistic teenager.
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Trump installs new leaders at key posts: The administration’s appointments for new acting heads of the U.S. attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn signaled a break from past practice.
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Anne Frank the Exhibition comes to Manhattan: For the first time outside of Amsterdam, an exhibition reconstructs Anne’s hiding place during the devastation of the Holocaust.
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What we’re watching: This week on “The New York Times Close Up With Sam Roberts,” Nick Fandos, a New York Times Metro reporter, discusses Mayor Eric Adams’s new alignment with President Trump. Then, a look at the complex relationship between Silicon Valley and the MAGA movement with James Pogue, a journalist and author. The program is broadcast at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. [CUNY TV]
METROPOLITAN diary
When It Began
Dear Diary:
Over 45 years ago, I took a class in sales at a building at West 41st Street and Eighth Avenue. At the end of the first night, I yelled out, “Anyone going to the East Side?”
“I am,” said one woman in a class of 15 to 20 people.
Making our way east across 42nd Street, we walked past peep shows, food vendors and pickpockets.
We walked past Bryant Park, which was dangerous and drug-infested then, and on to Madison Avenue, where she caught a bus uptown. I continued on to Third Avenue and my apartment.
Neither of us can remember the exact year, and I couldn’t name the course we were at. But I do remember it was the night I met my best friend, Joan.
— Caryl Ehrlich
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. S.C.
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.
Makaelah Walters and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].
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The post A Clean Slate for Jan. 6 Rioters From the New York Area appeared first on New York Times.
