NEW YORK – President Donald Trump’s decision to… grant leniency on some 1,500 defendants convicted of crimes as of January 6, 2021, prompts a response from the family of a Capitol police officer who died after the attack on the US Capitol.
The pardon includes those convicted of serious and violent crimes, including assaulting police officers. The president also ordered the attorney general to dismiss all pending cases related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Mr. Trump has previously referred to all arrested, tried and convicted people as “hostages.”
Photo from U.S. Capitol Police
Mr. Trump signed the order during his speech first day back in the White House and just hours after he was sworn for a second term.
‘Undoing the justice that was previously determined’
The family of Brian Sicknicka Capitol Police officer from New Jersey who died a day after the attackissued a statement in response to the pardon decisions:
Our family has been asked to comment on the pardon of the rioters who ransacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, including the man who attacked our son with a deadly weapon and his accomplice. There are no words that can adequately describe the pain of losing Brian, and the suffering we have endured every day since and will never end. The pardons are intended to “end a serious national injustice against the American people and begin the process of national reconciliation.” It is up to the American people to decide whether this goal will be achieved, which involves far more serious questions than how our family feels about the deaths of a son and brother, and the undoing of the justice previously determined by the conviction of the Court of Justice. Brian’s attackers. It is our hope that the truth about what happened that tragic day will survive, regardless of party political objectives. We are proud of our son’s defense of American democracy, and of the continued efforts of his fellow officials to protect the seat of government and the Constitution that guides it; our hearts go out to them as they deal with all that has happened, and we pray for their strength and determination to continue their important mission.
The DC medical examiner’s office previously said Sicknick died of natural causes after suffering two strokes at the base of his brain stem caused by a clot in an artery, noting that “everything that happened played a role in his condition,” a reference to his defense of the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Sicknick’s family has said this before they wanted accountability for Mr. Trump related to the attack on the Capitol.
“He has blood on his hands,” Gladys Sicknick said earlier. “And I don’t care. People say, ‘Oh, but Brian died of a stroke.’ I’m sure because of what he was going through, because he was very intense and I’m sure that helped.”
Trump has repeatedly tried to downplay the events of January 6, calling prosecutors “brutal” in some cases.
Demetrius Freeman/Getty
After his death, Sicknick’s remains lay in honor at the U.S. Capitol.
In addition, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal also responded to the pardon, calling the decision “sickening.”
“This mass pardon is sickening – the ultimate disrespect for police officers who have been brutally attacked by criminal rioters, in some cases leaving them with permanent injuries and death. Giving a blanket pass to cop killers and other insurrectionists, convicted by juries of ordinary Americans, discredits justice. and law enforcement officials should be ashamed of the Republican colleagues who were protected that terrible day and are now silent,” said Blumenthal, a Democrat.
