Jan 21, 2025

At least six Republican lawmakers have spoken out against President Donald Trump‘s decision to issue sweeping pardons and commutations to people convicted for their involvement in the deadly January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Why It Matters

The newly inaugurated president sent shockwaves through the legal and political sphere when he pardoned almost every convicted Capitol rioter.

His decision sparked immediate blowback not just from Democrats but also from some vulnerable Republican senators who will likely be a target for Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.

What To Know

Six Republicans have broken with Trump so far, at least in part, over his decision to pardon nearly every Capitol rioter:

• Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell
• Maine Senator Susan Collins
• North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis
• New York Representative Nicole Malliotakis
• Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski
• Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy

McConnell, the former Republican Senate leader, alluded to Vice President J.D. Vance’s previous comments saying that violent Capitol riot offenders should not be pardoned.

“Well, I think I agree with the vice president,” McConnell told Semafor. “No one should excuse violence. And particularly violence against police officers.”

Collins criticized Trump’s decision, telling Newsweek on Tuesday that while she believes “some Americans were caught up in the crowd on January 6 and may well deserve the clemency President Trump has given,” there is a “great difference between violent crimes and non-violent crimes.”

“I do not support pardons given to people who engaged in violence on January 6, including assaulting police officers, or breaking windows to get into the Capitol, for example,” Collins added.

Tillis also pushed back on the pardons.

“Clearly, with the sheer number, there were people that got swept up in it, and I’m OK if they did something dumb in the heat of the moment,” he told Reuters. “That’s one thing. But look, you make this place less safe if you send the signal that police officers could potentially be assaulted and there is no consequence. It’s pretty straightforward to me.”

Malliotakis criticized Trump as well, telling CNN: “I do have an issue with those who assaulted police officers. And I think that those do need to serve the time. That is unacceptable.”

Malliotakis added that while she believed some of the defendants had been treated unfairly, “the people who assaulted our police officers do need to pay the consequence for that.”

Asked what her message is to Capitol Police officers who were attacked on January 6, Malliotakis replied: “Well, look, I can only speak for myself. And certainly I stand with our Capitol Police and all our law enforcement.”

She added: “I’m very proud to be one of the few individuals here in Congress that actually in the past has received the endorsement of the Capitol Police union and we have to support our law enforcement. We need to hold those who injure them and kill them accountable.”

Two other Republicans joined their colleagues in condemning, at least in part, Trump’s January 6 pardons.

“I’m disappointed to see that,” Murkowski told NBC News in a statement. She said she was thinking of the hundreds of police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and added: “I do fear the message that is sent to these great men and women that stood by us.”

Cassidy echoed that sentiment.

“I think that whether you’re in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport, Monroe, Lafayette, Alexandria, Lake Charles or Washington, D.C., it’s wrong to assault anybody—but certainly to assault an officer,” he told NBC News. “I’m a big back-the-blue guy.”

In addition to pardoning roughly 1,500 convicted Capitol rioters, Trump also commuted the sentences of 14 January 6 defendants, including those who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their actions related to the riot, which has been linked to nine deaths, including officer suicides.

Meanwhile, Trump and his right-wing allies have repeatedly claimed that those who stormed the Capitol were unjustly targeted and that the attack was part of a government plot to undermine Trump. The president has also falsely described the convicted rioters as “hostages.”

What People Are Saying

Republican Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump loyalist, on X (formerly Twitter): “It’s over. It’s finally over. J6’ers are being released TONIGHT!! Never forget what the Democrats did and how they prosecuted J6’ers but NOT Antifa and BLM. Never again!!!

Democratic California Representative and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on her website: “It is shameful that the President has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power. Despite the President’s decision, we must always remember the extraordinary courage and valor of the law enforcement heroes who stood in the breach and ensured that democracy survived on that dark day.”

Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff, on X: “Trump’s action today is a sick betrayal of the rule of law and adds grievous insult to injury to law enforcement officers.”

Michael Fanone, a former Capitol Hill police officer who was injured protecting the building during the riot, told CNN: “It’s outrageous but not surprising. I mean…he’s been promising these pardons since day one. So the American people should be…well aware that this was coming. And they ultimately owned this decision and these pardons.”

What Happens Next

Many of the Capitol rioters have been released and the rest will be released from prison in the coming days. Fanone, meanwhile, told CNN that he went to court on Tuesday to seek protective orders “against the individuals, five of whom pled guilty to assaulting me, who were pardoned by Donald Trump and released from prison last night and this morning.”

https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-republicans-criticizing-trump-january-6-pardons-2018618