US Capitol rioters celebrate prison release after Trump pardons
by Ulysse BELLIER
When Kevin Loftus became one of the Capitol rioters granted a sweeping pardon by new US President Donald Trump, he walked out of the Philadelphia prison where he was being held and drove overnight to Washington without even stopping to change his clothes.Loftus was making a beeline for the Washington prison that has become a focal point for the Trump supporters convicted of storming the Capitol building in Washington on January 6, 2021, and their families.
The 56-year-old came, he told AFP early Tuesday, to "get everybody out."
Hours after being sworn in on Monday, Trump granted pardons to more than 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol -- including those convicted of assaulting police officers.
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He described them as "hostages" and ordered that all pending criminal cases against Capitol riot defendants be dropped.
Loftus, standing in the freezing cold of an unusually frigid morning in the US capital, told AFP about waiting Monday night for Trump to follow through on his promise to pardon the rioters.
He described watching footage of Trump signing a raft of executive orders -- except there was no volume on the TV in his cell.
"I'm thinking to myself, 'Man, I hope our pardons are in there,'" he said.
Trump signed the pardons in the evening, and Loftus was given the news several hours later. They said "'You're getting out of here. Pack your stuff,'" he related. "I'm like, woohoo!"
He was freed by 2:00 am along with another inmate jailed over the Capitol attack, William Sarsfield III.
Sarsfield's wife had driven for more than 20 hours from Texas to pick them up -- and when she did, they went straight to Washington.
- 'Camaraderie' -
Loftus had been sentenced to three years probation for his presence at the riot. Then, last year, he tried to fly to Russia to fight against Ukraine and was arrested, court documents showed.
"I violated my probation... I was outside of my area," he told AFP.
Which sent him behind bars, until Trump's intervention.
Sarsfield, standing with Loftus outside the Washington prison where many of the Capitol rioters had been held on the chilly Tuesday morning, had been convicted of disturbing the peace on January 6.
He described the "camaraderie" in prison between those who had been convicted of Capitol riot offenses, and said he was "very blessed" to be freed.
Sarsfield, too, wanted to support those still behind bars in Washington, where supporters have been holding a nightly vigil for years.
He was carrying jackets, gloves and hats for inmates that are getting out.
Other supporters were also at the prison early Tuesday, along with journalists, waiting for any convicted rioters still inside to be freed.
The Capitol assault followed a fiery speech by then-president Trump to tens of thousands of his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 race.
He then encouraged the crowd to march on Congress.
His pardons have divided public opinion, with supporters expressing jubilation, but many others -- including Democrats and police officers who were at the Capitol that day -- vehemently condemning them.
A handful of Republican lawmakers expressed opposition, but most were silent, including Vice President JD Vance, who just a week ago said violent offenders should not be pardoned.
Two prominent rioters had their sentences commuted: Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, the head of another such group, the Oath Keepers.
Both Tarrio and Rhodes had been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
At one point on Tuesday, two men did emerge from the Washington prison and the crowd surged towards them, shouting: "Freedom!" and "We love you!"But the pair rushed silently to a car and disappeared, with a policeman stationed at the prison entrance confirming they had nothing to do with the Capitol assault.