Two brothers convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack were the first to be released late Monday after President Trump granted a first-day pardon to hundreds of participants. It became a mob.
Andrew and Matthew Ballentine, from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, were released from the Central Detention Center in Washington, D.C., just before midnight, Trump administration officials announced outside the prison, and Elon Musk He added that he was the “mastermind” behind the sudden freedom.
“The first two defendants on January 6 were released, hours after President Trump signed a historic pardon,” said Paul Ingrassia, White House Justice Department liaison. Speaking to reporters, he called the pardon a “monumental moment in our country's history.”
Ingrassia added: “Tonight, this injustice ends in America, and this dark chapter in our nation's history is coming to an end.”
President Trump, 78, said he had issued “approximately 1,500 pardons” at the White House on the sidelines of his inauguration ceremony on Monday.
Hours after taking the oath of office, the president signed the agreement. document Commuting the prison sentences of 14 people and providing “full, complete and unconditional relief to all other individuals convicted of crimes related to the events that occurred on or near the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. grant a pardon.
Justice Department files criminal charges 1,583 people in connection with the riots that erupted after President Trump told thousands of supporters in the final days of his first term that the 2020 election was being “stolen” from him. Rioters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to halt the counting of electoral votes that would confirm Joe Biden's victory.
The Valentin brothers were each sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Friday. According to Pocono Records.
Matthew Ballentine, 32, pleaded guilty in September to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or obstructing certain police officers, which could result in up to eight years in prison, local newspapers reported. reported.
His brother, Andrew Ballentine, 27, pleaded guilty to one felony count of the same charge and one felony count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He served up to 28 years in prison.
Neither of them entered the Capitol building on January 6, but they were involved in a scuffle with law enforcement officers.
President Trump wasted no time on his first day signing a number of executive orders, including:
- Justice Department directed not to enforce TikTok 'sell or ban' law for 75 days
- Suspending 78 Biden-era executive actions
- Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement
- End all federal lawsuits and investigations against Trump supporters
- Revoke protections for transgender troops
- Approximately 1,500 people charged with crimes in connection with the January 6 attack were pardoned, and six had their sentences commuted.
- Overhaul the refugee admissions program to better align with American principles and interests.
- A national emergency is declared at the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Drug cartel and Torren de Aragua designated as foreign terrorist organizations
- Repeals several immigration orders by the Biden administration, including those that narrow deportation priority to those who have committed serious crimes, are considered a national security threat, or are stopped at the border.
- Reversing policies created by the Biden administration that sought to guide the development of AI to prevent abuse.
- Reversing a Biden-era policy that allowed federal agencies to undertake certain efforts to promote voter registration.
- Rescinds the 2021 Title IX order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation in federally funded education programs.
- Biden to reverse recent removal of Cuba from US list of state sponsors of terrorism
- Orders federal employees to return to office work five days a week
- Order a federal hiring freeze with exceptions for positions related to national security, public safety, and the military.
- Direct all government departments and agencies to address the cost of living crisis
- Restore freedom of speech and prevent free speech censorship
- Ending the “weaponization of the government against the political opponents of the previous administration”
- A 25% tariff will be imposed on products from Mexico and Canada starting February 1st.
- Biden lifts sanctions on Israeli settlers in West Bank
- President Biden's reversal order calls for 50% of new cars sold in 2030 to be EVs
- Declare that there are two biological genders: male and female
- Ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within federal agencies
- Establishment of Government Efficiency Bureau
- Increased screening of visa applicants from certain high-risk countries
- Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge reopened to oil and gas exploration
- Orders the Attorney General, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Homeland Security to “take all appropriate steps to prioritize” the prosecution of illegal aliens who commit crimes.
- Withdrawing the United States from the Global Minimum Tax Agreement
- Suspends issuance of U.S. foreign aid for 90 days
- Directs the Attorney General to pursue the death penalty for capital crimes committed by murder of a law enforcement officer or illegal immigrant.
- Directs the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior to resume efforts to transport water from California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state.
- withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization
- Orders the Treasury Department to consider creating an External Revenue Service
- The security clearances of former National Security Adviser John Bolton and 51 other intelligence officials will be revoked because Hunter Biden's laptop contained “classic characteristics” of Russian disinformation.
- Declares the border crisis an “invasion” and orders the Attorney General and the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to “take all appropriate measures to repel, repatriate, or remove alien persons involved in the border crisis.” do.
- The Gulf of Mexico will be officially renamed the “Gulf of America” and Mount Denali in Alaska will be officially renamed “Mount Denali.” McKinley”
In a sentencing memo from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Matthew “violently grabbed the officer by the neck” and sprayed a “chemical irritant” at the officer, while Andrew threw a chair at the officer and struck him. said.
According to the memo, both men also stole an officer's baton while beating him.
Andrew wrote a letter apologizing for his actions, and Matthew's lawyer said: “He has said many times that his actions still haunt him every day.”
“I am disappointed in myself when I think about how our law enforcement officers felt that day and every day since,” Andrew wrote in his apology.
“My intention was never to hurt anyone and I can't believe I acted that way.”
Long before his inauguration, Trump promised to free “our great hostages.”
“They have been treated very unfairly. The judges have been absolutely brutal. The prosecutors have been brutal. And no one in this country has ever treated anyone like that.” he said on the first day of his second term.
The day after the Capitol attack, 42-year-old Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, himself a Trump supporter, died of a stroke. Two police officers died by suicide within days of the violence.
