US Capitol riot participant, Pamela Hemphill has rejected President Donald Trump’s pardon, citing guilt and respect for the rule of law and Capitol police officers. Hemphill, sentenced to 60 days in prison is denouncing the January 6, 2021 riot and Trump’s attempt to downplay the event.
Hemphill, who is nicknamed the “MAGA granny” by social media users – in reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan – said she saw the Trump government as trying to “rewrite history and I don’t want to be part of that”.
“We were wrong that day, we broke the law – there should be no pardons,” she said to the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme.
Trump’s pardon for January 6 rioters
–nearly 1,600 people involved in the attempt to violently overturn the 2020 election– came few hours into his second term presidency.
In a news conference on Tuesday, January 21 at the White House, the US president said: “These people have already served years in prison, and they’ve served them viciously. It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane. It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”
However, the Capitol riot pardon move has drawn an uneasy reaction from some Republican politicians. One of whom is Senator Thom Tillis, from North Carolina.
According to Sen. Tillis, he “just can’t agree” with the move, adding that it “raises legitimate safety issues on Capitol Hill”.
Another Republican US senator, James Lankford from Oklahoma, said to CNN: “I think we need to continue to say we are a party of law and order.”, adding “I think if you attack a police officer, that’s a very serious issue and they should pay a price for that.”
