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One of the people who served jail time for taking part in the US Capitol riot four years ago has refused a pardon from President Donald Trump, saying: “We were wrong that day.”<\/p>\n
Pamela Hemphill, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in prison, told the BBC that there should be no pardons for the riot on 6 January 2021.<\/p>\n
“Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Hemphill, who was 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”.<\/p>\n
“We were wrong that day, we broke the law – there should be no pardons,” she told the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme.<\/p>\n
Trump’s decision to pardon or commute the sentences of nearly 1,600 people involved in the attempt to violently overturn the 2020 election came just hours into his presidency.<\/p>\n
In a news conference on Tuesday at the White House, he said: “These people have already served years in prison, and they’ve served them viciously.<\/p>\n
“It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane. It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”<\/p>\n
However, the move has drawn an uneasy reaction from some Republican politicians.<\/p>\n
Senator Thom Tillis, from North Carolina, said he “just can’t agree” with the move, adding that it “raises legitimate safety issues on Capitol Hill”.<\/p>\n
Another Republican US senator, James Lankford from Oklahoma, told CNN: “I think we need to continue to say we are a party of law and order.”<\/p>\n
He added: “I think if you attack a police officer, that’s a very serious issue and they should pay a price for that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Also among those pardoned was one of the riot’s most recognisable figures, Jacob Chansley, the self-styled QAnon Shaman, who was released from jail in 2023 after serving 27 months of his 41-month jail sentence.<\/p>\n
He told the BBC that he heard the news from his lawyer while he was at the gym.<\/p>\n
He added: “I walked outside and I screamed ‘freedom’ at the top of my lungs and then gave a good Native American war cry.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n