Proud Boys and Oath Keepers among 1,500 Capitol riot defendants who Trump pardoned

US President Donald Trump has issued pardons and commutations for more 1,500 people convicted or charged in connection with the US Capitol riot four years ago.

Fourteen members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, two far-right groups, were among those whose sentences were commuted by the new Republican president as he took office on Monday.

Trump also signed an order directing the Department of Justice to drop all pending cases against suspects accused in the riot.

The executive action came shortly after Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the US inside the Capitol, which was stormed by his supporters on 6 January 2021 as lawmakers met to certify Joe Biden's election victory.

During a signing ceremony in the Oval Office on Monday evening, Trump displayed a list of the names of US Capitol riot defendants he said were receiving a pardon.

"These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon, full pardon," Trump said. "This is a big one."

"These people have been destroyed," he added. "What they've done to these people is outrageous. There's rarely been anything like it in the history of our country."

The proclamation says that it "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".

The list of names includes Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes, a former US Army paratrooper and Yale-educated lawyer, who was sentenced in 2023 to 18 years in prison.

A lawyer for former Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, who was jailed for 22 years for seditious conspiracy over the riot, said his client also expected to be released.

The move was swiftly denounced by Democrats as an attempt to re-write history.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who was among the lawmakers forced to flee during the riot, called Trump's actions "an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution".

The former top Democrat in Congress said Trump "has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers" who had physically fought with protesters to defend lawmakers.

Before he was sworn into office, some Trump aides indicated that he would not issue sweeping pardons, but would instead review each conviction on a case-by-case basis.

Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee for attorney general, called for a "case-by-case" review last week during her Senate confirmation hearing when asked whether Trump's clemency decisions would include those who attacked police officers.

"I condemn any violence on a law enforcement officer in this country," she said.

Other top Trump allies who recently called for each case to be reviewed individually include Vice-President JD Vance and Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

Trump's order came the same day that Joe Biden used the final minutes of his presidency to issue pre-emptive pardons for his brothers and sister, as well as members of the US House of Representatives committee whose investigation into the Capitol riot concluded Trump was to blame.

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The melee at the US Capitol lasted several hours. About 140 police officers were injured.

Lawmakers fled during the disorder and an unarmed female rioter was fatally shot inside the building by officers.

The Justice Department launched a nationwide manhunt for suspects in its aftermath.

More than half the convictions have been misdemeanours, such as disorderly conduct or trespassing. Most convictions resulted in sentences of under one year in prison or probation.

The group also includes roughly 600 people convicted of felonies for assaulting police officers or impeding law enforcement during a declared riot.

It also includes convicts who attacked Capitol Police officers with weapons, including metal batons, wooden planks, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, and pepper spray.

Trump previously called those prosecuted for the riot "political prisoners", who posed "zero threat".

Democrats describe the day as an attempted insurrection, and an attack on democracy itself.

Washington state Democratic Senator Patty Murray said in a statement: "It's a sad day for America when a President who refused to relinquish power and incited an insurrection returns to office years later only to grant violent criminals a Presidential pardon or commutation."

She also accused Trump of trying to "paper over the history and reality of that dark day".