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The Federal Bureau of Prisons said 211 people had been released from federal facilities following Trump’s pardon.
‘Mixed emotions’ following pardon
While he welcomes his own pardon because he says there was no evidence of him harming any police officers, he’s critical of Trump’s “blanket pardon”.
William Sarsfield was released from prison at 3am. He was still wearing his prison-issued clothes when he gathered at the D.C. Central Detention Facility, where many of the January 6 rioters were held. Source: SBS News
“If it’s a true blanket pardon, it’s kind of frustrating that people that did the nefarious [acts] and were paid agitators that were in there,” Sarsfield says, adding he believed some individuals were artificially planted there on that day to cause violence.
According to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll from December 2023, more than three in 10 Republicans believe in a conspiracy theory that FBI operatives organised and encouraged the January 6 attack.
“I’d like to hold people accountable for doing the wrong things. Even if it’s the judges, if it’s the prosecutors, all the way around the FBI agents.”
Robert Morss says his life has been “destroyed” after January 6. Source: SBS News
‘My life is in shambles’
“I hope that he can apply justice to those that actually are guilty of insurrection,” he said. “I hope he can rebuild what was broken, but I also hope he can lead us into that golden age of America that he promised in his inauguration speech.”
Official reports indicated 140 officers guarding the Capitol that day were injured, however, the US justice department believes more police were injured than have been officially reported.
Kevin Loftus says it’s “cool” that a “little guy” like him got a presidential pardon. Source: SBS News
‘People like me don’t get presidential pardons’
“People were cheering us as we were leaving, including other convicts, because January 6 people got respect in jail. It was kind of cool.”
“The fact that I’m just a little guy who got that pardon is pretty cool.”
