Donald Trump pardons 1,500 January 6 rioters

US President Donald Trump made a radical turnaround in domestic and foreign policy on the first day of his term in office. Immediately after taking the oath of office, the 78-year-old decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Trump scaled back the policies of his predecessor Joe Biden with dozens of regulations. At the start of his second term, Trump pardoned 1,500 supporters who stormed the Capitol in Washington in January 2021.

Trump’s supporters, whom he now always referred to as “hostages”, broke into the parliament building in Washington on January 6, 2021 to prevent the confirmation of Biden’s election victory. Several Democratic politicians were shocked by the pardons, as police officers were also violently attacked during the attack. Trump, however, said: “In most cases they did nothing wrong.”

According to Trump’s decree, the prison sentences of 14 convicts will be shortened and will now be considered served. These are members of the right-wing extremist “Proud Boys” and “Oath Keepers” who were accused of particularly serious crimes such as “seditious conspiracy” – some of them were sentenced to long prison sentences of more than 10 or 15 years.

Trump issued comprehensive and unconditional pardons for all of the more than 1,000 people convicted so far in connection with the Capitol attack. The president ordered them to be released “immediately.” He also ordered the Justice Department to drop all other pending criminal proceedings in the case.

Throughout the entire election campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to pardon criminals from back then. However, those close to him, including his vice president JD Vance, had previously emphasized that no one would be pardoned if they had become violent. Trump, on the other hand, did not want to commit to details before his inauguration – and now surprised with the rigorous decision to grant everyone impunity.

Trump had previously raved about the “great hostages” at an event to the cheers of supporters in a sports arena and added: “In most cases, they did nothing wrong.”

In another radical step, Trump wants to abolish the right to citizenship by birth in the USA. However, the so-called birthright is enshrined as an amendment to the US Constitution. Therefore, Trump must prepare for lawsuits against his decree. But his decree could lead to the issue going to the country’s highest court. This could actually interpret the constitution differently than before.

Conservatives have been trying to push for the abolition of the right to citizenship by birth for years. They particularly focus on children born in the United States of migrants living in the United States illegally.

Also on the first day, Trump also made official the committee in which tech billionaire Elon Musk is supposed to help drastically cut US government spending. Trump announced that Musk would have an office for around 20 employees. However, it will not be in the West Wing of the White House, he said in response to a question from journalists. All federal employees should also return to offices and working from home will be abolished for them.

By decree, Trump has given the video app Tiktok 75 days more time until it shuts down in the USA. A US law stipulates that China-based Tiktok owner Bytedance had to separate from Tiktok by Sunday in order for the app to remain available in the US. Trump is convinced that he can negotiate a deal around the app with an extension of the deadline. His plan is for the USA to get a 50 percent share of the app. Without the consent of the USA, Tiktok is worth nothing.

“Greenland is a wonderful place. We need it for international security,” Trump said at the White House. He is sure that Denmark, to which Greenland belongs, will take part. Trump said surprisingly directly about the Panama Canal: “We’re getting it back.”