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President Donald Trump issued pardons for more than 1,500 cases connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots on his first day in office after reportedly being indecisive about whether to issue a blanket pardon or to only pardon specific cases. AFP

Donald Trump reportedly steamrolled over his team with last-minute blanket pardon for those convicted and facing charges for the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, an insider said.

The newly inaugurated president issued pardons for more than 1,500 cases connected to the riots on his first day in office after reportedly being indecisive about whether to issue a blanket pardon or to only pardon specific cases, two sources told Axios.

"Trump just said: 'F -k it: Release 'em all,'" a source familiar with the discussions told the outlet.

Despite previous condemnations, Vice President JD Vance was reportedly "100% on board" with the pardons, a source told Axios.

As recent as last week, members of Trump's team, including Vance and Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, denounced those accused of violent crime. At the time, Vance added that he did not agree with their release, as reported by the BBC.

However, the Trump team believed that it was "time to move on," saying that "all the prosecutions are tainted," an insider familiar with the discussions told Axios.

After winning the presidential election, Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" in December that he planned to be "acting very quickly" when it came to pardons for the Capitol riot, but said at the time that "We're going to look at individual cases" for those accused of harming police officers.

Hundreds of individuals had been convicted of charges of resisting or assaulting police officers during the riots. Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor and now senior writer for Politico Magazine, warned in a piece that people can "safely expect a fair amount of recidivism among those who were convicted — particularly the defendants convicted of violent conduct."

Additionally, Michael Fanone, a former Metropolitan Police officer who was assaulted during the Capitol riots when a rioter tased him in the neck, told CNN that "I have been betrayed by my country, and I have been betrayed by those who supported Donald Trump."

Originally published by Latin Times.

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