All 47 members of the Senate Democratic caucus have introduced a resolution to condemn President Donald Trump's mass pardons of the January 6 insurrectionists.
The resolution, which also includes Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Angus King (I-ME), the independents who caucus with Democrats, initially stood at 46 sponsors, reported CBS News' Scott MacFarlane.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) had vowed to be a lone Democratic Party holdout, but later joined his colleagues to support it, according to NBC News' Frank Thorp and Kate Santaliz.
One of the main sponsors, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), will seek unanimous consent to pass the resolution later this week. If passed, it would not have any legally binding effect, but would voice the Senate's disapproval of Trump's action.
"Pres. Trump’s day one agenda was letting violent criminals who beat police officers out of prison," stated Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) "These are people who planned an insurrection, assaulted police officers with metal batons, fire extinguishers, wooden planks and even admitted to these crimes and pled guilty in court."
Trump had repeatedly pledged to issue pardons for January 6 defendants, whom he has repeatedly called "hostages" and baselessly claimed did not receive fair due process.
In the weeks leading up to being sworn in, he and Vice President J.D. Vance suggested the cases would be reviewed individually, with some of the defendants convicted of more violent offenses excluded. However, Trump instead issued a blanket pardon for 1,500 people with no apparent review, including hundreds who assaulted police officers; his only bit of restraint was issuing commutations rather than pardons for the paramilitary Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy, which released them from prison but did not expunge their criminal records.
Even some Republican members of Congress have appeared uncomfortable with the sweeping nature of Trump's pardons, given the January 6 attack constituted a violent threat against their own safety for doing their jobs.