From Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08)’s office:
The January 6 pardons are among the worst things Trump has ever done.
He put violent, dangerous felons into our communities.
They are emboldened by Trump’s “get-out-of-jail-free” cards.
Who knows what other crimes they will commit?
Unfortunately, we’re all about to find out. pic.twitter.com/VXEiAA3SZx
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) January 23, 2025
Beyer Floor Remarks [With Video] From Special Order Hour On Trump January 6 Pardons
January 23, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Don Beyer, who represents a Northern Virginia district that was home to many of those who protected the Capitol on January 6th including Officers Sicknick, Smith, DeFreytag, and Fanone, spoke this evening on the House floor on President Donald Trump’s pardons and commutations for the perpetrators of the violent January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Beyer’s remarks, which came during a special order hour led by Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), follow below, and video is available here.
Mr. Speaker, I represent many of those people who protect us on Capitol Hill: members of the Capitol Police, of the Metropolitan Washington, DC Police force, the Arlington County Police, police who live in my Northern Virginia district.
January 6th was not some distant abstract event for my constituents.
Democracy was on the line that day, but so were their lives, their bodies, their physical safety and wellbeing.
As events spiraled out of control on January 6th, calls for help went out on police radios, and they were answered by men and women in uniform throughout the metropolitan Washington, Virginia, Maryland area – some of whom were off duty – many were off duty – and they chose to get dressed, jump into their cars, and race here to protect us, to protect our Capitol, to protect all who work here.
Hundreds of those officers still bear the wounds, seen and unseen, that will never heal.
The January 6th pardons and commutations are some of the worst things Donald Trump has ever done.
With these pardons, Trump embraced lawlessness and violence.
Trump pardoned the people who beat and tazed my constituent, Officer Michael Fanone, tazed repeatedly in the neck. And he described it as being like torture, and it led to him having a heart attack at that very time.
Trump pardoned the people who gave a brain injury to my constituent Officer Jeff Smith days before he died by suicide. Congressman Himes mentioned how he was beaten in the head with a pole.
His wife, Erin Smith, said those injuries changed him during his final days, he was a different person. Officer Smith’s death was later ruled a line-of-duty death because it resulted from the injuries suffered here on our behalf.
Trump pardoned the people who attacked my constituent, Officer Brian Sicknick. They sprayed him with pepper spray hours before his death from two strokes.
The medical examiner said his death occurred from “natural causes,” but what happened to Brian before his death, during the attack on the Capitol [played a role].
Trump pardoned people who chanted Nazi slogans, who yelled racial slurs at our Black police officers, who called for the assassination of elected leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump’s own Vice President, Mike Pence.
Trump pardoned a man who was charged with throwing an explosive device at the police in the Capitol. He was a man who had previously been convicted of domestic violence battery by strangulation.
Trump pardoned a man who stomped on an officer’s head, beat other officers with a flagpole, a crutch, and with pieces of furniture, and sprayed officers with pepper spray.
Trump pardoned a man who ripped off the gas mask of a police officer, beat him in the face, and then crushed him in a door.
Trump pardoned hundreds of people who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement, many of them with deadly weapons.
He pardoned or commuted the sentences of over a dozen violent criminals convicted of seditious conspiracy.
By pardoning those who carried out these heinous crimes, Trump made our country less safe and betrayed law enforcement heroes who protected the Capitol at great personal cost.
These pardons sent a message that violent crime, even against law enforcement, will be sanctioned by Trump’s government if it is carried out in his name.
I urge my colleagues to remember the families of the five officers who died after defending the Capitol on January 6th: Officers Brian Sicknick, Jeffrey Smith, Howie Liebengood, Gunther Hashida, and Kyle DeFreytag.
I urge you to remember the many officers who defended the Capitol on January 6th – who put themselves at risk to protect us – and who will carry scars seen and unseen as long as they live.
These scars were inflicted by people who will face no further legal consequences for those acts thanks to President Donald Trump.
This injustice is a gross betrayal of their service and sacrifice, but it does not diminish their patriotism.
After January 6th, many of my colleagues posted messages of support for law enforcement and the Capitol Police. It was on their doors, it was on their walls in the halls of Longworth and Rayburn and Cannon, and it was on social media.
Members like Speaker Johnson, who called for the prosecution of the criminals who committed those acts of violence against the police who guard the Capitol, let me quote Speaker Johnson: “to the fullest extent of the law.”
Republicans went on to hold votes on symbolic, non-binding resolutions expressing support for police.
“Back the blue,” they told us. “Back the blue.”
Their silence – or worse, their defense of Trump’s pardons – are unforgivable.
They can never again claim to back the blue with any credibility.
Finally, a warning.
With these pardons Trump put violent, dangerous people back into our communities.
Many of them did terrible things on other days besides January 6th, 2021. But all of them have just been emboldened by receiving “get-out-of-jail-free” cards from this president.
Who knows what other criminal acts they will perpetrate next?
Unfortunately, we’re all about to find out.
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