False. Trump pardoned 1,500+ criminals, including hundreds of violent criminals convicted of assaulting police. It tells future extremists that certain political violence will not have consequences. The Associated Press

Trump Pardoned Serious, Violent Criminal Convictions

January 6 defendants were convicted by juries or pled guilty themselves in open court. They were afforded full due process rights. The Associated Press

Examples

• David Dempsey, sentenced to 20 years, stomped on police officers’ heads, struck an officer in the head with a metal crutch, and attacked police with pepper spray and broken pieces of furniture. He was pardoned by Donald Trump.
• Daniel Joseph ‘‘DJ’’ Rodriguez, sentenced to over 12 years, repeatedly drove a taser into the neck of Officer Mike Fanone causing him to lose consciousness and have a heart attack. He was pardoned by Donald Trump.
• Daniel Ball was held in pretrial detention because of hurling an explosive device into the lower west terrace tunnel of the Capitol. He was released by President Trump, but was later rearrested on a gun charge.


These are examples of among the 1,000 rioters President Trump pardoned and called patriots.

See the myth January 6 was Peaceful for more details.

Trump Framed Rioters as “Hostages” and “Patriots” to Whitewash His Involvement

• On the five-year anniversary of January 6, the official Trump White House website featured a narrative defending participants as “peaceful patriotic protestors,” explicitly reframing them as patriots rather than rioters.
• This rhetoric exists to invert victim and perpetrator dynamic and whitewash Trump’s involvement in the insurrection.

See the myth Trump Did Not Try to Overturn An Election for evidence of Trump’s involvement.

Pardoning people convicted of attacking police and stopping the peaceful transfer of power rewards political violence. It tells future extremists that there are no consequences for violence on behalf of a political cause.