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Two brothers convicted in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack became the first of the rioters to be freed late Monday after President Trump issued Day 1 pardons to hundreds of the participants.
Andrew and Matthew Valentin, from Stroudsburg, Pa., were released from the Central Detention Facility in Washington, DC just before midnight, Trump administration officials announced outside the jail — adding that Elon Musk was “the mastermind” behind their sudden freedom.
“The first two January 6 defendants have been released. This is a few hours after President Trump signed his historic pardon,” the White House liaison to the Justice Department Paul Ingrassia told reporters, calling the pardon a “monumental moment in our history.”
“This injustice is ending in America tonight and this dark chapter in our country’s history is coming to an end,” Ingrassia added.
Trump, 78, said he issued “approximately 1,500 pardons” at the White House in between inaugural festivities on Monday.
Hours after he was sworn into office, the president signed a document commuting 14 prison sentences and issuing “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
The Justice Department criminally charged 1,583 people in connection with the riot, which broke out after Trump, while serving the final days of his first term, told thousands of supporters that the 2020 election was being “stolen” from him. The rioters stormed the Capitol to try to halt the counting of Electoral College votes that would confirm Joe Biden’s win.
The Valentin brothers were just sentenced on Friday to two and a half years in prison each, according to the Pocono Record.
Matthew Valentin, 32, pleaded guilty in September to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and faced up to eight years in prison, the local outlet reported.
His younger brother, Andrew Valentin, 27, pleaded guilty to one felony count of the same charge as well as one felony count of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He faced up to 28 years behind bars.
Neither entered the Capitol building on Jan. 6, but both were involved in scuffles with law enforcement officers.
President Trump wasted no time signing a slew of executive orders on Day 1, including those that:
Direct DOJ not to enforce TikTok “divest-or-ban” law for 75 days
Halt 78 Biden-era executive actions
Withdraw from the Paris climate accord
End all federal cases and investigations of any Trump supporters
Revoke protections for transgender troops
Pardon about 1,500 people criminally charged in the Jan. 6 attack, while commuting the sentences for six
Overhaul the refugee admission program to better align with American principles and interests
Declare a national emergency at the US-Mexico border
Designate drug cartels and Tren de Aragua as foreign terrorist organizations
Reverse several immigration orders from the Biden administration, including one that narrows deportation priorities to people who commit serious crimes, are deemed national security threats or were stopped at the border
Rescind a policy created by the Biden administration that sought to guide the development of AI to prevent misuse
Rescind a Biden-era policy that allowed federal agencies to take certain initiatives to boost voter registration
Rescind the 2021 Title IX order, which bans discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation in education programs that get federal funding
Revoke Biden’s recent removal of Cuba from US state sponsors of terrorism list
Order federal employees back to work in office five days a week
Order a federal hiring freeze, including exceptions for posts related to national security and public safety and the military
Direct every governmental department and agency to address the cost-of-living crisis
Restore freedom of speech and prevent censorship of free speech
End the “weaponization of government against the political adversaries of the previous administration”
Impose 25% tariffs on products from Mexico and Canada as of Feb. 1
Reverse Biden sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank
Reverse Biden order requiring 50% of new cars sold in 2030 be EVs
Proclaim that there are two biological sexes: male and female
End diversity, equity and inclusion programs within federal agencies
Establish Department of Government Efficiency
Institute enhanced screening for visa applicants from certain high-risk nations
Reopen Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration
Order attorney general, secretary of state and secretary of homeland security to “take all appropriate action to prioritize” prosecution of illegal aliens who commit crimes
Withdraw US from Global Minimum Tax agreement
Institute a 90-day pause in the issuance of US foreign aid
Order the attorney general to pursue the death penalty for killing of a law enforcement officer or any capital crime committed by an illegal immigrant
Order the secretaries of commerce and the interior to restart efforts to route water from California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state
Withdraw the US from the World Health Organization
Order Treasury Department to explore creation of External Revenue Service
Revoke security clearances for ex-national security adviser John Bolton and 51 intelligence officials who said Hunter Biden laptop bore “classic earmarks” of Russian disinformation.
Declare the border crisis an “invasion” and order the attorney general and secretaries of state and homeland security to “take all appropriate action to repel, repatriate, or remove any alien engaged” in such
Formally rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and Alaska’s Mt. Denali to “Mt. McKinley”
Matthew “violently grabbed an officer’s neck” and sprayed “a chemical irritant” towards officers, while Andrew hurled a chair at officers, striking one, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a sentencing memo.
Both also stole officers’ police batons while berating the cops, according to the memo.
Andrew penned a letter apologizing for his actions, while a lawyer for Matthew said “he has mentioned more than once how he is still haunted by his acts daily.”
“I am disappointed in myself when I think about how the law enforcement agents must have felt on that day and every day since,” Andrew wrote in his apology letter.
“My intentions were never to hurt anyone and I cannot believe that I behaved in such a manner.”
Trump had promised to free “our great hostages” long before his inauguration.
“They’ve been treated very unfair. The judges have been absolutely brutal. The prosecutors have been brutal. And nobody’s ever treated people in this country like that,” he said on the first day of his second term.
Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, 42, himself a Trump voter, died of a stroke one day after the Capitol attack. Two police officers died by suicide within days of the violence.
