Two of America’s most prominent far-right extremists, Enrique Tarrio of Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers Militia, have been freed from prison following President Donald’s Trump’s reprieve for all the nearly 1600 people charged in connection with the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Tarrio was serving a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy, while Rhodes was serving 18 years on similar charges.
The move came just hours after Joe Biden, in the final 20 minutes of his presidency, issued pre-emptive pardons for (among others) members of the bipartisan committee that investigated the Capitol attack.
Biden said he believed in the rule of law and was optimistic that the strength of the American legal system would ultimately prevail over politics. He said none of those receiving pre-emptive pardons had done anything wrong or was even under investigation.
But the former President said he wanted to immunise them against politically motivated vengeance, attempts to weaponise the Department of Justice and Trump’s promised “retribution” against those he perceived to be enemies.
“Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety and financial security of targeted individuals and their families,” Biden said. “Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances.”
Also receiving pre-emptive pardons were Dr Anthony Fauci – the face of America’s covid-19 response – Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, and five members of Biden’s immediate family.
Trump has promised to appoint “a real special prosecutor” to “go after” Biden and his family.
The New York Times says the pre-emptive pardons are without clear precedent but legal scholars it had spoken to said Biden was within the boundaries of his authority.
Trump, meanwhile, is said to have reacted “with indignation” that the former president had issued “pardons of people that were very very guilty of very bad crimes, like the useless committee of political thugs”.
Throughout his election campaign, the Times said Trump had threatened to prosecute Democrats, election workers, law enforcement officials, intelligence officials, reporters, former members of his own staff and Republications who did not support him, “often without identifying any criminal activity”.
During his first 24 hours in office, Trump rescinded nearly 80 of Biden’s executive orders. He has also confirmed that large-scale immigration raids to deport illegals will begin immediately.
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