President Donald J. Trump, in one of his first official acts, issued sweeping pardons to nearly all of the 1,600 rioters charged with storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and commuted the sentences of several others.
It was an extraordinary grant of clemency that appeared to reverse the fortunes of both people accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses that day and those who committed violence.
Taken together, the two moves would effectively undo years of efforts by federal investigators to seek accountability for the mob assault on the peaceful transfer of presidential power after Mr. Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump did not specify whether the “full pardons” he issued would affect only those accused of relatively minor misdemeanors like disorderly conduct, breaching the Capitol’s restricted grounds and trespassing at the building or whether they would also include defendants who committed more serious crimes like assaulting police or seditious conspiracy.
About 1,000 of the Jan. 6 defendants had been charged only with low-level offenses, while slightly more than 600 were also charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement at the Capitol.
Mr. Trump did not immediately name the defendants whose sentences he had commuted. But sitting at the Resolute Desk, he said that the Jan. 6 defendants had been issued harsh sentences.
“They’ve already been in jail for a long time,” he said. “These people have been destroyed.”
David C. Adams and Glenn Thrush contributed reporting.
