Trump repeatedly promised during his election campaign to forgive those who participated in the attack, calling them “hostages,” “patriots” and “political prisoners.”
Trump, whose first term as president ended under the cloud of the assault on the Capitol, has repeatedly downplayed the unprecedented violence of January 6, going so far as to describe it as a “day of love.”
More than 140 police officers were injured in hours of clashes with rioters wielding flagpoles, baseball bats, hockey sticks and other makeshift weapons along with Tasers and canisters of bear spray.
The assault on the Capitol followed a fiery speech by then-President Trump to tens of thousands of his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 race. He then encouraged the crowd to march toward the Congress.
Trump was accused by special counsel Jack Smith of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
But the case never went to trial and was dropped because of the Justice Department’s policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
According to the latest figures from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 1,583 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol siege, including 608 accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers.
– Agence France-Presse
