By Deborah Gembara, Andrew Goudsward and Andy Sullivan
CUMBERLAND, Md./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol four years ago will begin walking out of prison on Tuesday, after the newly installed president granted a sweeping pardon signaling his intention to use aggressive with its executive power.
The Republican president’s pardon of 1,500 defendants on Monday, Inauguration Day, sparked outrage among lawmakers who were put in danger during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s decision. 2020 victory.
Trump’s leniency extended from the hundreds of people who followed the mob into the Capitol to the much smaller group who planned the attack on democracy, including some who assaulted and injured some 140 police officers that day .
Stewart Rhodes, the former Oath Keepers militia leader whose 18-year prison sentence was commuted, was released after midnight Tuesday in Cumberland, Maryland. Rhodes, who was wearing an eyepatch after a gun accident, got into a waiting car and was driven away early in the morning.
Rhodes did not enter the U.S. Capitol on January 6, but he was convicted of conspiring to use force against Congress to prevent certification of the election. He was also accused of helping store firearms at a hotel in neighboring Virginia, which could be transported by ferry to Washington.
The family of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio said they were awaiting his release Tuesday. Tarrio was not present at the Capitol on January 6, but was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in planning the attack.
“Donald Trump ushers in a golden age for those who break the law and try to overthrow the government,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
The attack was motivated by Trump’s refusal to acknowledge defeat, which threatened the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in US history. Around 140 police officers were assaulted in the attack and four people died in the chaos.
PROUD BOYS MARCH
Among those set to be released are leaders of the far-right Proud Boys organization, some of whom have been convicted of seditious conspiracy. About 40 men wearing Proud Boys insignia exchanged insults with protesters in the streets of Washington during Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Others expected to be released include Dominic Pezzola, accused of stealing a police officer’s riot shield and using it to smash a window, beginning the breach of the Capitol.
Trump’s pardon was just one of several executive orders he signed after an inauguration ceremony in the U.S. Rotunda, where his supporters had gone on a rampage four years earlier.
Trump also launched a sweeping immigration crackdown, cut support for wind power and electric vehicles and opened the way for oil drilling in the Arctic and offshore areas. He withdrew from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization.
It also delayed a ban on the popular video app TikTok, which was due to be shut down on Sunday.
However, Trump did not immediately impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada, as he had threatened to do.
Some of Trump’s executive orders, such as the one removing citizenship guarantees for those born in the United States, may well be overturned by the courts.
His vow to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America drew a sneer at his inauguration ceremony from Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival in the 2016 presidential election.
Other political changes were already having a concrete impact. Along the U.S.-Mexico border, migrants were left desperate when their asylum appointments were canceled. Planes carrying more than 1,600 Afghan refugees allowed into the United States were expected to be turned away.
Trump, however, seems to be enjoying his return to power. A cryptocurrency he launched on Friday reached a market value of more than $10 billion on Monday, while another cryptocurrency firm linked to him, World Liberty Financial, raised $300 million in token sales.