Oath Keepers, Proud Boys leaders out of prison after Trump Jan. 6 pardons
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(WASHINGTON) — Enrique Tarrio, the former head of the Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, the head of the Oath Keepers, were released Tuesday from prison following President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardon of those convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
They were serving 22- and 18-year sentences, respectively, for their roles in the riot.
Four years after they raided the Capitol, threatened Congress members and assaulted police officers, a group of some of the Jan. 6 rioters convicted of the most violent incidents that day are now free men thanks to Trump.
Other convicted members were scheduled to be released throughout the day from Washington, D.C. area, jails and prisons.
Of the nearly 1,600 individuals who have faced charges associated with the Capitol attack, according to figures released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 608 individuals faced charges for assaulting, resisting or interfering with law enforcement trying to protect the complex that day, the office said. Approximately 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the riot, the Department of Justice has said.
A federal judge sentenced Rhodes in May 2023 after he was convicted of seditious conspiracy the year prior for his and his group’s role in the riot. The Oath Keepers had stockpiled weapons at a D.C. hotel and organized the attack, according to prosecutors.
Rhodes himself did not enter the Capitol on Jan. 6 and maintained that his group only intended to provide security and medical aid to those attending multiple pro-Trump demonstrations in the area, prosecutors said.
Tarrio was sentenced in September 2023 for his conviction on seditious conspiracy and given the longest sentence of all of the convicted Jan. 6 rioters, though he was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
During his sentencing, prosecutors pointed to a nine-page strategic plan to “storm” government buildings in Washington on Jan. 6 that was found in Tarrio’s possession after the riot, as well as violent rhetoric they say he routinely used in messages with other members of the group about what they would do if Congress moved forward in certifying President Joe Biden’s election win.
As more of the rioters were released from jails and prisons, a group of Trump supporters, Proud Boys members and others gathered and cheered them on as they were released.
The group carried large flagpoles with Trump and American flags attached and signage that read, “no man left behind” and “pardon all j6 hostages day one.”
Current and former DOJ officials have expressed alarm over the potential that Trump would hand down pardons — or otherwise free — violent offenders, citing the potential risk they could seek to target the prosecutors who oversaw their cases, the judges who sentenced them to periods of incarceration, or witnesses who may have testified against them.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday after the volatile White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday, saying she “just couldn’t believe” how Friday’s meeting unfolded..
The Minnesota Democrat told ABC News’ “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos she was “appalled by what happened in the Oval Office,” and thinks the fallout of the exchange “is not in President Trump’s best interest.”
“We stand with our friends, not our enemies,” Klobuchar said. “The great country of America goes into negotiations with strength, not surrender.”
Klobuchar said she — along with other senators from both sides of the aisle — had been with Zelenskyy before he left for the White House, and said he had been in “great spirits.”
Watching video of the explosive meeting, Klobuchar said she “just couldn’t believe it.”
“It was Vice President Vance, particularly, who was on the offense, who was berating President Zelenskyy, who simply was trying to explain that … we needed a strong security commitment from all of our allies to be able to have a lasting peace, which is something that President Trump says that he wants to see.”
Klobuchar speculated on how the meeting so quickly became caustic when asked by Stephanopoulos if it had been an ambush.
“Either it was an ambush setup, or they just got so hotheaded, the president and the vice president, that what happened happened,” she said. “It’s the chaos of this presidency.”
Meanwhile, British ambassador to the U.S. Lord Peter Mandelson said the U.S.-Ukraine relationship needs a “reset” after the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting.
“I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow,” Mandelson told Stephanopoulos. “And then, as part of the unfolding plan for this negotiation, the Europeans and perhaps some other countries too, have got to consider how they are going to put forces on the ground to play their part in providing enduring security and deterrence for Ukraine.”
European leaders were meeting in London on Sunday to discuss a UK-French peace plan they’re working on with Zelenskyy that they plan to present to the U.S.
Mandelson said it will be important to “create the circumstances in which enough pressure is brought on” to “force [Russia] to the negotiating table.”
“And then we will see the true color of their intentions and what they’re prepared to agree and to stand by,” he said. “But if it goes wrong, we must be there on Ukraine’s side, continuing to arm them to make sure that they have the capacity to withstand any further Russian attack with ourselves lining up behind them in that eventuality.”
President-elect Donald Trump is on the cusp of returning to the White House, with his inauguration ceremony on Monday.
During his third campaign for the presidency, he laid out what he would do on his first day back in office, even referring to himself as a “dictator” but only on “Day 1.”
“We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling,” he said during a 2023 town hall in Iowa with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “After that, I’m not a dictator.”
One task on his apparent to-do list has already become irrelevant. Trump vowed to fire Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought two federal cases against him, “within two seconds” of returning to the White House. Though Smith resigned as special counsel on Jan. 10 after submitting his final report on the probes into allegations of interfering with the 2020 election and unlawfully retaining classified documents after leaving the White House.
Here’s what else Trump has said he would do on Day 1:
Mass deportations and closing the border
With immigration a top issue for voters, Trump has said he’s determined to round up and deport millions of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.
“On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” he said during a rally at Madison Square Garden in the closing days of the presidential race. “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”
Incoming “border czar” Tom Homan has promised to execute “the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”
To do so, Trump has indicated he will seek help from the U.S. military by declaring a national emergency.
Trump has also vowed to close the southern border on his first day in office.
“We’re going to close the border. Day 1, the border gets closed,” he said during the 2023 town hall with Hannity.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff of policy, told Fox News following the election that the president-elect would immediately sign executive orders regarding mass deportations and a border closure.
“It is going to be at light speed,” Miller said. “The moment that President Trump puts his hand on that Bible and takes the oath of office, as he has said, the occupation ends, liberation day begins. He will immediately sign executive orders sealing the border shut, beginning the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Trump has railed against the Biden administration’s immigration policies, in part claiming they have made America less safe, though statistics show that U.S.-born citizens are more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes than undocumented immigrants, according to a 2020 Justice Department study cited in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
There are an estimated 11 million unauthorized migrants living in the U.S. without legal immigration status. Removing them could cost billions of dollars per year, according to estimates from the American Immigration Council.
End birthright citizenship
Among other immigration policies, Trump has pledged to sign an executive order on the first day of his new term to end birthright citizenship.
In a 2023 campaign video, Trump said that under the new executive order, at least one parent will have to be a “citizen or a legal resident” for their children to qualify for birthright citizenship.
Such a move, though, is expected to face significant legal hurdles. Under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, any person born within the territory of the U.S. is a U.S. citizen.
Free some convicted Jan. 6 rioters
Trump has said one of his first acts if elected to a second term would be to “free” some people convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, whom he continues to claim are “wrongfully imprisoned.”
“I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control,” he said on his social media platform last March when announcing the promise.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed the violence that ensued that day, referring to the defendants as “J6 hostages,” calling for their release.
As of early January, more than 1,580 individuals have been charged criminally in federal court in connection with Jan. 6, with over 1,000 pleading guilty, according to the Department of Justice.
Tariffs on Canada and Mexico
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform following the election that one of the first executive orders he will sign when he takes office will be to charge Mexico and Canada with a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” he posted. “Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
In response, Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, warned that any tariff will be met with another and disputed his claims about migration and drugs while blaming the U.S. for Mexico’s drug war — pointing to U.S. consumption and American guns.
Canadian officials said the country “places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of our shared border.”
End the Russia-Ukraine war ‘within 24 hours’
Trump claimed during a 2023 CNN town hall that if he were president, he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours. Though he did not detail what he wanted an end to look like, dodging on whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win.
Asked during an ABC News debate in September if he wants Ukraine to win against Russia, Trump did not directly answer but said that he wants the war to stop.
“I’ll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I’m president-elect, I’ll get it done before even becoming president,” he said.
Though more recently, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s pick to serve as the special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said on Fox News this month that he’d personally like to see the war end within 100 days.
End ‘Green New Deal atrocities’
Trump said in a campaign video last year he would end the “Green New Deal atrocities on Day 1” if reelected.
The Green New Deal — a public policy initiative to address climate change pitched by Democrats Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey — was never signed into law, though Trump has used the term to generally refer to the Biden administration’s climate and energy policies, like the landmark Inflation Reduction Act.
“To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam. Greatest scam in history, probably,” Trump said during remarks at the Economic Club of New York in September. “[We will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act.”
Trump also said during his Republican National Convention address that he will “end the electric vehicle mandate on Day 1.” There is no such federal mandate, though recent Environmental Protection Agency regulations are aimed to accelerate the adoption of cleaner vehicle technologies.
Green cards for college graduates
Trump deviated from his usual anti-immigrant rhetoric when he advocated for “automatically” giving noncitizens in the U.S. green cards when they graduate from college — not just people who go through the vetting process — during an episode of the “All In” podcast released in June.
“[What] I want to do, and what I will do, is you graduate from a college, I think you should get, automatically as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country. That includes junior colleges, too,” Trump said in the episode.
“Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years, if you graduate, or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country,” he continued.
Asked on the podcast if he would expand H-1B work visas for tech workers after fixing the border, Trump said “yes.”
“Somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can’t even make a deal with the company because they don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day 1,” Trump said.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the leaders of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, have also voiced their support for H-1B visas, which allow foreign skilled professionals to work in America, saying they are essential because American culture doesn’t prioritize success in science and engineering careers compared to other countries.
Some of Trump’s far-right supporters have pushed back against support for the visas, arguing they are a way for business leaders to have cheap labor rather than provide job opportunities for Americans.
Reinstate ban on transgender military service
Trump has vowed to reinstate a ban on transgender military service enacted during his first term in 2017, which President Joe Biden repealed in 2021, among other measures that would impact trans people.
“With the stroke of my pen, on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” Trump said at a Turning Point USA rally in December. “And I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high school. And we will keep men out of women’s sports.”
“And that will likewise be done on Day 1,” he continued.
Estimates on the number of active transgender service members vary. In 2021, the Department of Defense said there were approximately 2,200 people in the military services who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria and seeking medical care, while noting that was a subset of the transgender population.
If a ban on transgender service members were to be reinstated, the Human Rights Campaign said it “will take swift action to push back against this dangerous and discriminatory ban.”
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump said on Friday he spoke to China’s President Xi Jinping about TikTok and other issues as he prepares to take office in a matter of days.
Trump confirmed the call in a post on his social media platform, calling it a “good one” for both nations.
“It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately,” Trump said. “We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!”
The call came just before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a bipartisan law that could see TikTok banned in the U.S. after Jan. 19 unless its Chinese-owned parent company sells the widely popular app.
The Biden administration doesn’t plan to take action to immediately force TikTok go dark, ABC News has reported, instead leaving it to the incoming Trump administration to implement.
Trump, who tried to ban TikTok in his first term, has now promised to save it. He met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club in December, and Chew plans to attend Trump’s inauguration, sources told ABC News.
In addition, Trump had extended an invitation to Xi to attend Monday’s ceremony in Washington. Though experts noted it was unlikely Xi would attend.
But Xi’s special representative, Vice President Han Zheng, will attend, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced Friday.
“We stand ready to work with the new U.S. government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other,” the spokesperson added.
