President Donald Trump holds up an executive order commuting sentences for people convicted of Jan. 6 offenses Monday in the Oval Office of the White House. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers, using his clemency powers on his first day back in office to undo the massive prosecution of the unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy.

Trump’s action, just hours after his return to the White House on Monday, paves the way for the release from prison of people found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

The pardons are a culmination of Trump’s yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack, which left more than 100 police officers injured as the angry mob of Trump supporters — some armed with poles, bats and bear spray — overwhelmed law enforcement, shattered windows and sent lawmakers and aides running into hiding. While pardons were expected, the speed and the scope of the clemency amounted to a stunning dismantling of the Justice Department’s effort to hold participants accountable over what has been described as one of the darkest days in the country’s history.

Trump also ordered the attorney general to seek the dismissal of roughly 450 cases that are pending before judges stemming from the largest investigation in Justice Department history.

Fifteen people with ties to Maine were charged for their alleged roles on Jan. 6. Most of them have already been sentenced, but several were still awaiting trials or sentencing hearings. Earlier this month, a federal judge denied the request of one Mainer, Christopher Belliveau, to attend Trump’s inauguration because the Sanford man was accused of spraying a canister of bear deterrent at a police officer.

Casting the rioters as “patriots” and “hostages,” Trump has claimed they were unfairly treated by the Justice Department, which also charged him with federal crimes in two cases he contends were politically motivated. Trump said the pardons will end “a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years” and begin “a process of national reconciliation.”

The pardons were met with elation from Trump supporters and lawyers for the Jan. 6 defendants. Trump supporters gathered late Monday in the cold outside the Washington jail, where more than a dozen defendants were being held before the pardons.

“We are deeply thankful for President Trump for his actions today,” said James Lee Bright, an attorney who represented Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was serving an 18-year prison sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes.

It’s unclear how quickly the defendants may be released from prison. An attorney for Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, said he expected his client to be released from prison Monday night.

“This marks a pivotal moment in our client’s life, and it symbolizes a turning point for our nation,” attorney Nayib Hassan said in a statement. “We are optimistic for the future, as we now turn the page on this chapter, embracing new possibilities and opportunities.”

Democrats slammed the move to extend the pardons to violent rioters, many of whose crimes were captured on camera and broadcast on live TV. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution.”

“Donald Trump is ushering in a Golden Age for people that break the law and attempt to overthrow the government,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in an emailed statement.

Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun, appeared taken aback to learn from an Associated Press reporter that those who assaulted police officers are among the pardon recipients.

“This is what the American people voted for,” he said. “How do you react to something like that?”

Fanone said he has spent the past four years worried about his safety and the well-being of his family. Pardoning his assailants only compounds his fears, he said.

“I think they’re cowards,” he said. “Their strength was in their numbers and the mob mentality. And as individuals, they are who they are.”

Trump had suggested in the weeks leading up to his return to the White House that instead of blanket pardons, he would look at the Jan. 6 defendants on a case-by-case basis. And Vice President JD Vance had said just days ago that people responsible for the violence during the Capitol riot “obviously” should not be pardoned.

Fourteen defendants, including several convicted of seditious conspiracy, had their sentences commuted, while the rest of those found guilty of Jan. 6 crimes were granted “full, complete and unconditional” pardons.

The pardons come weeks after the Justice Department abandoned its two federal criminal cases against Trump, citing its policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Had Trump lost the 2024 election, he may have ultimately stood trial on charges in the same federal courthouse in Washington in the case that had accused him of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in a desperate bid to cling to power.

More than 1,200 people across the U.S. had been convicted of Jan. 6 crimes over the last four years, including roughly 200 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement.

Hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants who didn’t engage in any of the violence and destruction were charged with misdemeanor trespassing offenses, and many of those served little to no time behind bars.

But the violence that day has been documented extensively through videos, testimony and other evidence seen by judges and jurors in the courthouse that its within view of the Capitol.

Police were dragged into the crowd and beaten. Rioters used makeshift weapons to attack police, including flagpoles, a crutch and a hockey stick. Investigators documented a number of firearms in the crowd, along with knives, a pitchfork, a tomahawk ax, brass knuckle gloves and other weapons. Officers have described in testimony fearing for their lives as members of the mob hurled insults and obscenities at them.

Of the more than 1,500 people charged, about 250 people were convicted of crimes by a judge or a jury after a trial, while more than 1,000 others had pleaded guilty to offenses. Only two people were acquitted of all charges by judges after bench trials. No jury has fully acquitted a Capitol riot defendant.

More than 1,000 rioters had been sentenced, with over 700 receiving at least some time behind bars. The rest were given some combination of probation, community service, home detention or fines.

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Chester and Aaron Barrett, the father-and-son fishermen from Addison who went missing over the weekend, had planned to drag for scallops close to home on Monday, according to a friend.

But they needed to get Chester’s boat, Sudden Impact, from Edmunds back to South Addison, their friend Chris Beal said Monday. When they set out on Saturday morning, they ran into foul weather after rounding West Quoddy Head in Lubec.

“They were in a rush to fish today,” said Beal, a fisherman who has known the Barretts for decades, during an interview on Monday.

The Barretts texted someone else during the trip and indicated they would try to seek shelter from the rough seas as soon as possible.

“It’s wild out here,” they said in a text, according to Beal.

They headed for Cutler.

But the Barretts and their scallop dragger did not make it to Cutler and were reported overdue that evening. After a Coast Guard search late Saturday and on Sunday, the boat is believed to have sunk en route.

Dean Barrett, Chester’s nephew and Aaron’s cousin, said he wasn’t sure if they checked the weather forecast before they left Edmunds and tried to make it home. He said his uncle is an experienced diver and so knew the hazards of the sea, but that the stretch of coast between Lubec and Cutler can be unforgiving.

If the tide and wind are running against each other, it can amplify the size of the swell and waves, he said.

“You’ve got 17 miles of raw ocean,” Dean Barrett said.

Beal echoed the assessment of that section of coastline.

“It’s a horrible place to be” in bad weather, Beal said. “There’s zero islands to shelter behind.”

The loss of Sudden Impact underscores the dangers of fishing in general and the hazards that draggers in particular can face. The Barretts were not fishing on Saturday, but draggers can capsize even in mild weather if their gear catches on the bottom.

During a 10-month span over a decade ago, from March 2009 to January 2010, three draggers capsized and sank in Cobscook Bay, taking the lives of five fishermen on two of the boats. The crew of the third boat, Miss Priss, were rescued by a nearby vessel and survived.

Last week, the Barretts and everyone else who had been fishing scallops in Cobscook Bay this winter found out they would have to move their boats elsewhere to continue through the end of the season in March. That came after state officials enacted an emergency closure of Cobscook Bay, including Whiting and Dennys bays, in order to protect the broodstock. For years, that area has been considered the most productive scallop-fishing grounds in Maine.

Now, other fishermen who have gone out looking for the Barretts think they may have located the missing boat via SONAR. It may be submerged near Moose Cove in about 160 feet of water, officials have said, but the weather on Monday remained too windy following an overnight snow storm for recovery efforts to proceed.

Beal said that Aaron Barrett, whom he has known since Aaron was a child, worked on Beal’s boat for roughly five years before Chester Barrett won a scallop license in a state lottery three years ago. Since then, Aaron has worked with his father during scallop season.

“Everybody’s just in shock,” Beal said, adding that he did not know the Barretts would be out on the water on Saturday. Scallop fishermen can only fish during certain days of the week, and draggers are not allowed to fish on weekends but can relocate from one fishing area to another any time.

“We kind of knew” they likely had sunk when they didn’t make it back to South Addison by the end of the day, Beal said. “We was holding hope they made it in somewhere.”

Brigitte Beal, Beal’s wife, said she and her husband and the Barretts — Chester, his wife Melanie and Aaron — owned neighboring camps at Schoodic Lake for 20 years.

“Chet and Aaron were remarkably hard workers, a very close father-and-son relationship, very well-known in our tight community, always willing to help, first with a joke, very family-oriented guys,” Brigitte Beal said. “We surely have lost two incredibly respected members of our community.”

Dean Barrett said his uncle and cousin were outgoing, friendly people but largely kept to themselves. His uncle enjoyed hunting deer, while his cousin was more partial to fishing for bass.

“Uncle Chet loved to hunt,” he said. “They’d always make time to be up at Schoodic Lake.”

Aaron didn’t have any of his own kids but had a girlfriend who lived in Bangor with two children from a prior relationship, Dean Barrett said. Aaron would take them fishing with him sometimes on trips to Schoodic Lake, he said.

Dean Barrett said he and another fisherman are planning to recover Sudden Impact from where they believe it came to rest on the bottom near Moose Cove. He said they tried on Sunday, but had to stop after the Coast Guard said conditions were too unsafe.

He said he and the other fishermen have larger fishing boats, and that he is sure they can resurface the sunken vessel between the two of them.

“I’m going to try to get it tomorrow,” Dean Barrett said.

Maine (WABI) – Warming centers are opening up across the state in response to ongoing cold temperatures and forecast wind chills.

The City of Augusta is opening a daytime warming center Jan. 20-22 at the Augusta Civic Center.

The hours will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The warming center is located in the Penobscot Room on the first floor.

There will also be warming centers available in Rockland.

AIO Food and Energy Assistance will be open Jan. 20-24 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Rockland’s Emergency Warming Center at the Flanagan Community Center will be open Jan. 20-22 from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

To find additional warming centers, click here.

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