Trump grants clemency to all charged over January 6 US Capitol attack

US president sweeps away years-long effort to punish those responsible for trying to overturn the 2020 election.

United States President Donald Trump has granted clemency to everyone charged over the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol in one of his first official acts in the Oval Office.

In a sweeping reversal of the years-long drive to punish those responsible for trying to overturn the outcome of the 2020 US election, Trump on Monday pardoned about 1,500 of his supporters and commuted the sentences of 14 others.

“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,” Trump said in a proclamation posted on the White House website.

Trump’s pardons wiped the slate clean for many of those convicted of committing the most serious crimes on January 6, including Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.

The pardons also erased the criminal records of more than 700 people convicted of misdemeanour offences, such as trespassing, and put a halt to hundreds of pending prosecutions.