Senate Democrats ready formal resolution to condemn Trump's pardons of Jan. 6 defendants
A group of Senate Democrats will attempt on Monday to raise the political pressure on Republicans to condemn President Trump's pardon of violent Capitol insurrectionists.
CBS News has learned senior Democrats will seek to pass a resolution by unanimous consent that formally denounces the pardons of the rioters who were convicted of assaulting and injuring police on Jan. 6, 2021.
In one of Mr. Trump's first executive actions, he pardoned roughly 1,500 people charged — nearly everyone charged, with the seven others having their sentences commuted — in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, making no distinction for people charged with violent crimes.
Though the resolution is unlikely to pass through the Republican-controlled Senate, its formal introduction could force some Republicans to publicly and declaratively object to the measure. The "unanimous consent" proposal that will be formally introduced Monday is expected to require at least one Republican Senator to publicly object to block the resolution's passage.
As of Sunday night, nearly every member of the Senate Democratic caucus had signed on to the resolution, including all members of leadership.
The senators' resolution has brief language. The resolution specifies, "Resolved, That the Senate disapproves of any pardons for individuals who were found guilty of assaulting Capitol Police officers."
"I refuse to allow President Trump to rewrite what happened on January 6 — armed insurrectionists, incited by Trump himself, broke into the U.S. Capitol and violently assaulted Capitol Police officers in their attempt to overthrow a free and fair election," said Sen. Patty Murray, a senior Democrat from Washington state who is leading the effort to pass the resolution and will bring it up for a vote under unanimous consent. "Insurrectionists cracked the ribs of police officers and smashed spinal disks. Donald Trump's pardons are a wholesale endorsement of political violence—as long as it serves Donald Trump."
Sen. Andy Kim, a first-term New Jersey Democrat who was photographed on Jan. 6, 2021, as a House member helping to clean the debris and waste in the hours after the Capitol riot, told CBS News he is concerned that the blanket pardons issued by Trump will help incentivize future political attacks.
"It gives the stamp of approval now to political violence, saying that if you conduct political violence, and it's in favor of Donald Trump, for the next four years that you'll be okay," Kim said.
A CBS News review of Justice Department reports and court filings shows more than 600 of the riot defendants were charged with assaulting or resisting police officers during the siege.
