LOUISVILLE, Ky. — One of his first actions in his second term, President Donald Trump pardoned or gave clemency to roughly 1,500 people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
Among those pardoned were roughly two dozen Kentuckians who were in Washington, D.C. that day.
“A pardon does not remove the infraction from the person's record but lets them off from the consequences of whatever they had been convicted for doing," said Stephen Voss, University of Kentucky associate professor.
A database from the Department of Justice shows 23 people were arrested in Kentucky, several of which are sentenced to years in prison.
Louisville man Andrew Kyle Grigsby was arrested 11 days ago. He is charged with five felonies and is currently siting in a Washington, D.C. jail. A release from the DOJ said Grigsby used bear spray on police officers defending the Capitol.
He is the latest person charged from Kentucky in the capitol breach case.
Trump’s pardons come almost immediately after former President Joe Biden granted clemency to several people, including members of his own family. Republicans were quick to criticize him.
“Having Biden so loose with the pardoning and commutation power makes it easier for Trump to come behind him, use it very broadly and say that he's not deviating from precedent,” Voss said.
More than 1,500 people have been federally charged with the attack on the U.S. Capitol since Jan. 2021. More than 600 are charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement. Approximately 18 defendants are charged with seditious conspiracy and roughly 1,100 people have been sentenced.
Democrats on Capitol Hill, including Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, were quick to criticize Trump for the pardons.
“He made no distinction in pardoning people about whether they were people who were here violently attacking the very police officers charged with keeping our nation's capital safe," McGarvey said. "I think it showed that he's more interested in settling political scores than he is about doing what's right, particularly by our Capitol police officers."
It’s unclear how long it will take for all of those in prison to be released.
Just before noon Tuesday, the Associated Press reported former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes had been released from prison. The two men faced 18- and 22-year sentences, respectively, after being convicted of seditious conspiracy.