Promise Kept: With the Stroke of a Pen, President Trump Issues Mass Pardons for J6 Defendants

In a move long-expected by MAGA, President Donald Trump triumphantly returned to the Oval Office Monday evening and promptly signed off on pardons for 1,500 J6 defendants.

🚨 #BREAKING: TRUMP PARDONS ~1,500 JAN. 6TH DEFENDANTS. pic.twitter.com/Jm2mFTcA0n
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 21, 2025

Sitting behind the Resolute Desk once again, Trump addressed the assembled media, telling them of the pardons:

There are a few commutations in there, where we doing further research.

After acknowledging a familiar face in the crowd, he scratched his signature on the mass pardon and continued:

So, this is a big one. We hope they come out [of prison] tonight, frankly.
They're expecting it.

When asked by a reporter how many people were included in the pardons, Trump responded, "Approximately 1,500 people. Six commutations." [Note: According to the White House website, the actual number of commutations is fourteen.]

As for any cases he may not have deemed appropriate for commutation or pardon, the president said, "We're looking at it. We're looking at different things. But the commutations would be the ones we take a look at, and maybe they'll stay that way."

Word of the pardons quickly spread across social media. It appears that one of the soon-to-be-released J6ers is Enrique Tarrio, a former member of the Proud Boys who was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison back in 2023.

🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨

Enrique Tarrio is leaving prison now!!!

He is a free man thanks to President Donald Trump !

I will be exclusively sitting down with him on Louder with Crowder @scrowder!

Follow Tarrio’s X page @NobleOne !!
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) January 20, 2025

Tarrio's mother, Duarte Tarrio, said she had spoken to her son Monday, revealing his thoughts on his pending pardon and release: “He’s very excited. It’s surreal to him. He’s ready to go."

RedState has covered Tarrio's plight in the wake of J6.

Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy, based on the controversial legal theory of "implicit conspiracy," which defense lawyers compared to telepathy during closing arguments.
In his closing, DOJ prosecutor Connor Mulroe told jurors:
A conspiracy can be unspoken, implicit. A wink and a nod.
Although Tarrio did not attend the Capitol attack, he received the longest sentence of any January 6 defendant—22 years. Federal prosecutors appealed the sentence, arguing for a 33-year term despite his non-attendance.

Trump has long promised to issue mass pardons for convicted J6ers once he was back in office, but as RedState's Bob Hoge reported Sunday, he ran into some interference from fellow Republicans like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who argued pardons should not be given to those who attacked law enforcement.

Undaunted by the resistance, Trump plowed ahead with his plan as soon as he set foot back in the Oval Office. Trump was certainly emboldened by the fact that his predecessor, Joe Biden, blew all standards and norms to shreds by pardoning his son, Hunter, and various other family members. Pardon-palooza was on.

Officially, President Trump has commuted the sentences of Proud Boys and Oath Keeper members and issued "a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021" for other defendants. Or, as Trump has called them in the past, J6 "hostages."

Here's the full text of the official commutations and pardons, via the White House:

A PROCLAMATION
This proclamation 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.
Acting pursuant to the grant of authority in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States, I do hereby:
(a) commute the sentences of the following individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, to time served as of January 20, 2025:
• Stewart Rhodes
• Kelly Meggs
• Kenneth Harrelson
• Thomas Caldwell
• Jessica Watkins
• Roberto Minuta
• Edward Vallejo
• David Moerschel
• Joseph Hackett
• Ethan Nordean
• Joseph Biggs
• Zachary Rehl
• Dominic Pezzola
• Jeremy Bertino
(b) grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021;
The Attorney General shall administer and effectuate the immediate issuance of certificates of pardon to all individuals described in section (b) above, and shall ensure that all individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, who are currently held in prison are released immediately. The Bureau of Prisons shall immediately implement all instructions from the Department of Justice regarding this directive.
I further direct the Attorney General to pursue dismissal with prejudice to the government of all pending indictments against individuals for their conduct related to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Bureau of Prisons shall immediately implement all instructions from the Department of Justice regarding this directive.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.