Trump Did Not Pardon Those that Stormed the Congress

Trump has neither pardoned nor reduced the sentences of those that stormed Congress. The full list of pardoned persons can be found on the website of the US Department of Justice. It is clear that none of the pardoned individuals have anything to do with the violent incursion into Congress

The United States Constitution allows the president to issue pardons for crimes or reduce prison sentences. This right was used by the now-former US President, Donald Trump, in the last hours of his rule.

He issued 73 pardons and 70 commutations on Wednesday (replacement of the initial sentence with a reduced one).

A Facebook post claims that with this wave of pardons Trump also pardoned those storming the US Congress building during the session confirming the victory of the new president, Joe Biden:

Trump has amnestied the persons that entered the Congress….

It would have been just like in Macedonia, if Horhe’s (nickname for the fmr. President of the then Republic of Macedonia – editors note) abolition for the persons that stormed the Assembly was passed here as well.

Biden does not bother with the pardon. This is called reconciliation at the beginning.

And we are still demanding a guillotine for our patriotic children! Where are the refrigerators? We are a sick nation! Evil and corrupt to the core!

This is not true.

Trump has neither pardoned nor reduced the sentences of those that stormed the Congress. The list of pardoned individuals includes a number of officials, close associates of Trump, friends and supporters, including his former strategist Steve Bannon, rapper Lil Wayne and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

The full list of pardons can be found on the US Department of Justice website. It is clear that none of the pardoned persons has anything to do with the violent raid on the Congress.

In addition to this misinformation, the Facebook post manipulates with another inaccurate information. A parallel is drawn between the pardons of the American and the then Macedonian president. Thus, the announcement claims that the former President, Gjorge Ivanov, wanted to pardon those who violently stormed the national Assembly on 27 April 2017, an event also known as “the Bloody Thursday”.

This is not true either.

Former President Ivanov had nothing to do with the pardon for some of those accused of breaking into the Assembly. They were amnestied by the Assembly, in accordance with the Law on Amnesty for the events of 27 April, adopted on 18 December 2018 with 95 votes “for”, without any abstentions or votes “against”. Ivanov’s only involvement in these developments was his signing of this law on 20 December, and the signing of laws is part of President’s duties. He did not initiate the pardon, nor did he pardon those involved with his right to amnesty, as he pardoned the defendants in some of the cases initiated by the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office.

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