A Clean Slate for Jan. 6 Rioters From the New York Area

Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll look at some of the Jan. 6 rioters whom President Donald J. Trump pardoned or whose sentences he commuted in a sweeping set of executive orders.

Nearly 1,600 people charged with taking part in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by President Donald J. Trump this week. A number of the criminal defendants had ties to New York, as my colleague Ed Shanahan reported, and had been convicted on an array of charges, from trespassing to assaulting law enforcement officers. But this sweeping action has wiped clean the slate for them.

A White House proclamation called the pardons an end to a “grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation.”

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, criticized the action.

“Donald Trump is ushering in a Golden Age for people that break the law and attempt to overthrow the government,” he said.

Those with ties to New York who garnered widespread attention during the riot included:

• Thomas Webster: A former Marine and a retired New York City police officer, Webster was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being caught on video shoving through a police line and then swinging a flagpole at and tackling an officer. He made a self-defense claim at trial, but the jury rejected it.

• Dominic Pezzola: Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys and a contractor from Rochester, was found guilty on six felony counts, including charges of assaulting an officer and conspiring to keep members of Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. He became known as a main actor in the riot when video clips showing him breaking a window at the Capitol surfaced online.

• Roberto Minuta: Minuta is a former Oath Keeper. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for seditious conspiracy related to the riot. He has since tried to distance himself from the group, suggesting at his sentencing that he had been misled by it.

• Thomas Sibick: After pleading guilty to assaulting a Metropolitan Police officer during the riot, Sibick was sentenced to just over four years in prison. He took responsibility for his actions in a letter to the judge, calling the trauma the officer had experienced “undeniably sickening.”

• Sara Carpenter: Carpenter, also a former New York City police officer, was ordered to spend 22 months in prison after being convicted of several crimes that involved her pushing and slapping officers while wielding a tambourine and yelling.

• Edward Jacob Lang: Lang was charged with a series of crimes connected to the riot and had been in jail awaiting his trial when Trump issued the blanket pardon. Investigators arrested Lang after tracing a string of social media posts back to him. Court records said that the social media posts showed Lang swinging a baseball bat at police officers and thrusting a riot shield in their direction.