Andrus Whitewing

Below are some of the top political news stories of the day:

---

President Donald Trump holds up an executive order commuting sentences for people convicted of Jan. 6 offenses in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump issues sweeping pardon of supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack​

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Updated 7:20 PM CST, January 20, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday said he was pardoning about 1,500 of his supporters who have been charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, using his sweeping clemency powers on his first day back in office to dismantle the largest investigation and prosecution in Justice Department history.

The pardons were expected after Trump’s yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured and threatened the peaceful transfer of power. Yet the scope of the clemency still comes as a massive blow to the Justice Department’s effort to hold participants accountable over what has been described as one of the darkest days in American history.

Trump also commuted the prison sentences of leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as plots to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Trump is also directing the attorney general to seek the dismissal of about 450 pending cases against Jan. 6 defendants.

Trump had suggested in the weeks leading up to his return to the White House that he was going to look at the Jan. 6 defendants on a case-by-case basis. Vice President JD Vance had said just days ago that people responsible for the violence during the Capitol riot “obviously” should not be pardoned. ...

READ THE FULL STORY - AP

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

...