Donald Trump defended his decision to grant clemency to people convicted of assaulting police officers during the 2021 attack on the Capitol, saying they had ‘served years in jail’ that they ‘should not have served’. Trump used the opening hours of his second presidency to erase the records of more than 200 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting officers at the Capitol siege on 6 January 2021, granting reprieves to all 1,500-plus people charged in the insurrection that took place after he refused to accept he had lost the 2020 presidential election
