Jan. 6 prisoners, including Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, released after Trump pardons, commutations
Bart JansenWASHINGTON − Federal prisoners convicted in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, began to be released overnight, after President Donald Trump approved pardons Monday for nearly 1,600 people charged in the riot.
Trump also commuted the sentences for 14 defendants. That included Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers militia, who had received the second-longest sentence of 18 years for his role in the riot. Rhodes left a federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland, early Tuesday.
Relatives of Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys who received the longest sentence of 22 years for seditious conspiracy, said they expected his release on Tuesday.
"These people have been destroyed," Trump said after returning to the Oval Office. "What they've done to these people is outrageous."
Neither Rhodes nor Tarrio entered the Capitol, but they were convicted of seditious conspiracy for helping plan the attack.
Pardon recipient pops champagne in celebration
In Washington, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly abruptly dismissed the trial Tuesday of Kenneth Fuller and his son Caleb, who faced felony charges of obstructing police during a civil disorder. She noted that it satisfied Trump's edict.
Caleb Fuller, 22, who said he didn't see anyone get hurt in the riot, told reporters he and his parents popped a bottle of champagne in their hotel room after hearing Trump's decision on Monday night.
"I'm a free man now," he said.
Trump pardons hundreds of felons, people who assaulted police
Nearly 1,600 people were charged in the riot that injured 140 police officers and temporarily halted Congress from certifying former President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory, according to Justice Department figures.
About 1,270 people were convicted of charges associated with the riot, after more than 1,000 pleaded guilty and 260 were convicted at trials. The guilty pleas included 327 people admitting felonies and 682 people admitting misdemeanors.
About 600 people were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement. Among those who pleaded guilty, 172 admitted assaulting law enforcement, 130 admitted obstructing law enforcement during a riot and 69 admitted assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
"I have been betrayed by my country," Michael Fanone, a former officer with Washington's Metropolitan Police Department who suffered a heart attack in the attack, told CNN on Monday. "Tonight, six individuals who assaulted me as I did my job on Jan. 6, as did hundreds of other law enforcement officers, will now walk free."
The list of those receiving clemency included 14 people receiving commutations to end their sentences, including top members of two far-right militia groups, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.
Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys, who was credited with being the first to break a window on the Senate side of the Capitol for others to scramble through, had received a 10-year sentence.
(This article has been updated with new information.)
Contributing: Reuters