President Donald Trump has made good on his vow to pardon participants in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, sparking intense criticism — including from one of the planned recipients.
Pamela Hemphill, a 71-year-old resident of Boise, Idaho, who was sentenced to two months in jail after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge in the attack, said she will not be accepting Trump’s pardon.
“Accepting the pardon would be an insult to the Capitol Police officers, to the rule of law, to our nation,” Hemphill, who had posted videos of herself entering the Capitol as the attack unfolded, told the Idaho Statesman on Tuesday.
Hemphill told the paper that she was planning to file a letter of rejection for Trump’s pardon. “I don’t want to be a part of their trying to rewrite what happened that day,” she said.
“I don’t want to be a part of their trying to rewrite what happened that day.”
Pamela Hemphill, 71, of BOISE, IDAHO
Dubbed “MAGA Granny” after videos of her at the Capitol circulated, Hemphill has since disavowed Trump and taken issue with his characterization of the Jan. 6 defendants as persecuted victims.“We were wrong that day, we broke the law — there should be no pardons,” Hemphill told the BBC.
Upon taking office, Trump issued pardons for roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants and commuted the sentences of 14 others. He also ordered the dismissal of hundreds of pending Jan. 6 cases. The sweeping nature of the pardons took some Trump allies by surprise, NBC News reported, and the decision to do so was made only days before the inauguration. Some Trump voters have voiced disapproval of the pardons, NPR reported. The president has also faced criticism from a police union that endorsed him for president in the 2024 election: The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the United States, issued a joint statement with The International Association of Chiefs of Police denouncing pardons and commutations — from both Trump and then-President Joe Biden — for people convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers.In the final hours of his term, Biden commuted the life sentence of Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975. Late last week, Biden also issued commutations to two Virginia men who received life sentences in connection with the killing of a police officer. “When perpetrators of crimes, especially serious crimes, are not held fully accountable, it sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence,” the statement said. Hemphill told the paper that she was planning to file a letter of rejection for Trump’s pardon. “I don’t want to be a part of their trying to rewrite what happened that day,” she said.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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