Beyer Statement On January 6th Pardons

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents a Northern Virginia district that was home to many of those who protected the Capitol on January 6th including Officers Sicknick, Smith, DeFreytag, and Fanone, issued the following statement today on President Donald Trump's pardons and commutations for the perpetrators of the violent January 6^th attack on the U.S. Capitol:

"With these pardons and commutations Donald Trump embraced violence and lawlessness.

"Trump pardoned the people who beat and tazed my constituent, Officer Michael Fanone, who gave a brain injury to my constituent Officer Jeff Smith days before he died by suicide, and who attacked and sprayed my constituent, Officer Brian Sicknick, with bear spray hours before his death from two strokes. He pardoned hundreds of people who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement, many of them with deadly weapons, and pardoned or commuted the sentences of over a dozen violent criminals convicted of seditious conspiracy.

"By pardoning those who carried out these heinous crimes, Donald Trump made our country less safe and betrayed the law enforcement heroes who protected the Capitol at great personal cost. No one who remains silent in this moment can ever credibly claim to 'back the blue.'

"These pardons also signal Trump's personal ownership of his supporters' violent attack on the Capitol on January 6^th, and on the savagery they directed at law enforcement. His attempts to erase or rewrite history have failed utterly, and claims that Trump did not incite or intend this violent insurrection are burned away by the clear truth that he would have no reason to pardon hundreds of violent criminals for brutal assaults that left hundreds of police officers wounded if he was not directly connected to what they did.

"My thoughts today are with Erin Smith and the family of the late Officer Jeffrey Smith; Sandra Garza, Gladys Sicknick and the family of the late Officer Brian Sicknick; the families of Officers Howie Liebengood, Gunther Hashida, and Kyle DeFreytag; Officer Michael Fanone, and the many other courageous officers who defended the Capitol on January 6^th. This injustice is a gross betrayal of their service and sacrifice, but it does not diminish their patriotism."

Beyer has been a persistent advocate for officers and others directly affected by January 6^th.