Just hours after being sworn in, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people charged with crimes in connection to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Trump had repeatedly vowed to pardon the rioters who stormed the Capitol that day throughout his campaign, despite some of them being convicted of assaulting a police officer.

Prominent GOP senators are condemning President Trump’s sweeping clemency for violent Jan. 6 convicts who destroyed the Capitol and attacked police officers.

Donald Trump began his presidency with a dizzying display of force, signing a blizzard of executive orders that signaled his desire to remake American institutions while also pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted at the U.