Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes were sentenced to 22 and 18 years in prison: they are free thanks to the new US president
In his first hours as president of the United States, Donald Trump has among other things, signed the executive order to pardon the rioters of January 6, 2021. In practice, the so-called Capitol Hill attackers
who had been convicted were released from prison in Washington . This means over 1,500 people are once again at liberty: but who are they? Among them are the former leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio , and the founder of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes , leader of the US far-right movements . On January 6, 2021, a crowd of the tycoon's supporters stormed the Senate and House of Representatives to prevent the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the presidential elections the previous November.
The pardon for the "January 6 hostages" promised during the election campaign
So, as announced during the election campaign, Donald Trump's pardon has arrived. The new American president had promised, in recent months, a pardon for the so-called "January 6 hostages" (as they are called by supporters who have been stationed outside the prison in Washington, not far from the site of the insurrection, for 900 days), those who set Capitol Hill on fire, attacked police officers with metal bars, terrorized politicians and Congressional employees. All free again.
Trump: "These people have been destroyed"
Trump has pardoned more than 1,500 convicted people, some of them violent, and so the new commander-in-chief also absolves himself of any responsibility for having incited, as prosecutors who investigated him have alleged, a riot against Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election. "These people have been destroyed," Trump said before signing the executive order in the Oval Office, calling the convictions a "grave injustice."
Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, the far-right leaders
According to data from the Department of Justice, there are approximately 1,583 assailants indicted for the attack, including 600 accused of assaulting, resisting or obstructing law enforcement and 175 of using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. Among them are the masterminds of the insurrection: Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, former leaders of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were sentenced to 22 and 18 years in prison, respectively. Both, as confirmed by their respective lawyers, have already been released from prison.
The leader of the Proud Boys
Enrique Tarrio, a 42-year-old born in Miami and of Cuban origin, is considered a promoter of political violence and was the leader of a movement, the Proud Boys, considered neo-fascist. Tarrio was arrested in Washington days before the uprising for burning a Black Lives Matter banner on a church in the capital and being found in possession of high-capacity rifle magazines. The judge at the time of the conviction emphasized that although he had not participated in the insurrection, the Proud Boys leader "had had an enormous impact on the events of the day".
The former paratrooper lawyer
Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper and Yale-educated lawyer, led a contingent of his militia into the U.S. capital and hid weapons in a hotel room across the Potomac River in Virginia during the riot. He never entered Capitol Hill but, according to the prosecution, directed members of his group from the outside and was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2023. Rhodes was born in 1966 in California and is the son of a Marine. Raised by his mother and her Mexican-American family, he has described himself as "mixed race" and has said that his maternal ancestors are "American Indian" and Hispanic. The Oath Keepers he founded are an anti-government militia of the far right in America.
The anger of the police
President Trump's decision outraged Democrats, and at the same time embarrassed some Republicans. Some police officers also did not take it well, especially those who suffered some injuries that January 6. "Six people who attacked me while I was doing my job, who threatened me and my family, will now be free. Today we are less safe because of Trump," attacked one of the injured, Officer Michael Fanone.
"Rewrite January 6th"
Julian Zelizer, a historian at Princeton University quoted by the Associated Press, commented: "The implications are clear. Trump will go to great lengths to protect those who act in his name. This is the culmination of his effort to rewrite January 6, in this case by using his presidential might to free those who took part in a violent assault on the Capitol."
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