Speaker 1: The fallout from President Trump's executive order, the first one he signed in the Oval Office on Monday, pardoning commuting sentences and dropping the cases of more than 1500 people involved in the violent attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. Now keeping them honest, we're talking about a number of people charged with very serious crimes who received lengthy prison sentences and as we saw today, in many cases show no remorse at all. Case in point, this man, Stuart Rhodes, who showed up on Capitol Hill today a few short hours ago. He was one of the January 6th ringleaders and organizers, not just returning to the scene of the crime, but apparently being welcomed back to it by some lawmakers. He says he spoke with two, one from the Tampa area, the other from near Dallas. Afterwards, Rhodes spoke with Sinan's Manu Raju.

Speaker 2: What did I do on January 6th that caused them harm? Did I touch any officer? Show me the video of you punching anybody. I didn't touch anyone. I stood outside. I exercised my right to free speech. I talked about what I was seeing. I talked about what I felt about the election and it was unconstitutionally illegal. Would you condemn the violence against the police that day? Well, here's what I will say about that. I think that when you have police officers using excessive force, like Michael Byrd shooting an unarmed woman in the neck and killing her, who's obviously not a lethal force threat to him, he's a really big guy.

Speaker 3: But they were trying to break into the speaker's lobby, feet away from them.

Speaker 2: So you just want them to use deadly force against everyone there? I mean, they were using a sledgehammer to break down the glass door.

Speaker 1: Rhodes blaming police for the violence. More than 150 officers were injured that day. Others died in the days following, one of a stroke, others by suicide. And just for reference, at his trial, prosecutors played a recording of that man, Rhodes, that he made on January 10th. Quoting from the recording now, it said, my only regret is they should have brought rifles. Rhodes says in the recording, which was obtained by the FBI, quote, we should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I'd hang effing Pelosi from the lamppost. Rhodes told Mono today that when he said that, he was, quote, drunk and pissed off, adding, quote, that's still protected speech, though. In any case, he and the militia he founded, the so-called Oath Keepers, were deeply involved, not just in January 6th, but also a larger, longer-running effort to overturn the election. This earned him a very rare conviction, an 18-year sentence on the charge of seditious conspiracy, which isn't just words. Seditious conspiracy is a joint effort, quoting from the Federal Criminal Code, quote, to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the government of the United States. That is who some lawmakers apparently welcomed to their offices today. Someone duly tried, convicted, and sentenced for trying to overthrow or destroy by force the government that they are a part of. So the guy found guilty of that is now free and roaming the halls of Congress. On the same day that House Speaker Mike Johnson announced a new subcommittee, its goal, in his words, exposing the false narratives peddled by the politically motivated January 6th Select Committee. Sen. Manu Raju spoke with him as well today, before he spoke to Stuart Rhodes, and asked Johnson about the pardons and presciently whether he'd welcome the recipients back to the place they attacked. Republicans have long said you guys back the blue.

Speaker 3: How do you justifiably say that when Trump just pardoned a bunch of violent January 6th rioters who attacked Capitol Police? And if those rioters come to the Capitol, will you welcome them back here? So look, everybody can describe this however they want.

Speaker 4: The president has the pardon and commutation authority. It's his decision. And I think what was made clear all along is that peaceful protests and people who engage in that should never be punished.

Speaker 1: So that's a response. That's an answer to the question. It sounds reasonable. Everyone can describe this however they want, he said. And that's true. It's not illegal to make up stuff. And it's the president's decision to pardon anyone he wants. That's also true. And peaceful protests and the people who engage in them, that should never be punished, which sounds fine. But that's not what happened on January 6th. It doesn't square with the actual facts and what we all saw happen. The president made no such distinctions between violent and nonviolent offenders. He didn't even draw the line at sedition. It was clemency for everyone after a lengthy campaign rebranding them all as hostages.

Speaker 5: These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon, full pardon.

Speaker 1: So today we learned that some of those people whom he calls hostages, but again, who were in fact duly prosecuted, tried, convicted, and sentenced rioters and ringleaders may soon be guests of the president at the White House. So two sources familiar with the discussions of it tell us, January 6th, inmates at the White House. That news came shortly after the Fraternal Order of Police finally broke their silence and weighed in on the pardons. The group, along with the International Chiefs of Police Association, issued a statement reading in part, when perpetrators of crimes, especially serious crimes, are not held fully accountable, it sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence. Hard to argue with that notion. And then President Trump paid lip service to it a week after January 6th.

Speaker 6: America is a nation of laws. Those who engaged in the attacks last week will be brought to justice.

Speaker 1: That was from January 13th, 2021. He would go on, as you know, to lionize one of the perpetrators who was shot and killed trying to break into a hallway with then-Speaker Pelosi nearby, the same person Stuart Rhodes talked about with Manu Raju. Then he began calling them hostages and promising pardons, and that said, as recently as November, he was suggesting he would not pardon violent offenders. His vice president-elect even said so on camera.

Speaker 7: If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned, and there's a little bit of a gray area there, but we're very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law.

Speaker 1: Well, not so obvious to the president. Here's some of the very fine people the president can now invite to the White House. Here's Patrick McCaughey III, who assaulted D.C. Metro police officer Daniel Hedges with a police shield in the tunnel of the Capitol. He was serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence. The judge in his case called him, quote, a poster child of all that was dangerous and appalling about January 6th. There's David Dempsey, seen here in that same tunnel, aiming a can of bear repellent spray at police. He also used a crutch to smash an officer's head. Prosecutors said he used, quote, his hands, feet, flagpoles, crutches, pepper spray, broken pieces of furniture, and anything else he could get his hands on as weapons. The judge sentenced him to 20 years. The president could invite Daniel Rodriguez, who repeatedly shocked Metro police officer Michael Fanone in the neck with a stun gun, part of the mob that beat and nearly killed him that day. Hopefully, they would at least put him through a magnetometer if he visits the White House. We told you about Rodriguez last night. He was doing 12-and-a-half years convicted of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. But we want to tell you more tonight about the ringleaders and the organizers for whom January 6th was neither their first nor potentially their last time sowing political unrest and violence. Here's Stuart Rhodes back before the 2020 election.

Speaker 2: We have men already stationed outside D.C. as a nuclear option, and in case they attempt to remove the president illegally, we will step in and stop it.

Speaker 1: So that clip was from November 3rd, 2020. He was talking to Alex Jones and referring to members of his so-called Oath Keepers militia and what they were in position to do to stop the transfer of power. Now here's a speech he gave that December, talking about then-President Trump, who had already lost the election.

Speaker 8: He needs to know from you that you are with him, that he does not do it now while he is Commander-in-Chief. We're going to have to do it ourselves later in a much more desperate, much more bloody war. Let's get it on now while he is still the Commander-in-Chief.

Speaker 1: Now both clips were played at Rhodes' trial. The jury also heard testimony from group members about a large cache of weapons the group stashed in a nearby Virginia hotel for January 6th. Said the witness, quote, I had not seen that many weapons in one location since I was in the military. Eight other members of his group were either convicted of or pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. Then there's Enrique Tarrio, leader of the so-called Proud Boys, serving 22 years for a seditious conspiracy, the longest sentence handed down. His group took part in confronting police at the Capitol and encouraging others to breach police lines. According to trial evidence, Tarrio created a special chapter of the group known as the Ministry of Self-Defense, the members of which conspired to prevent, hinder, and delay the certification of the Electoral College vote and to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States. So that's Enrique Tarrio. And while there's no indication yet whether he or Stuart Rhodes or any of the other people we've shown may end up at the White House, the president has already shown that he cannot condemn even them, the worst of the worst. Or more ominously, some would say even close the door on whatever their next act may be. Which is why something he said, which we played last night, bears repeating.

Speaker 9: The leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers were freed following their pardons yesterday. At the time, back in 2021, you urged them to stand back and stand by. Is there now a place for them in the political conversation?

Speaker 10: Well, we have to say they've been given a pardon. I thought their sentences were ridiculous and excessive.

Speaker 1: So he's not saying no to a seat at the table, the political table, for Tarrio and Rhodes. And what about House Speaker Mike Johnson? He said today he doesn't second guess President Trump on the pardons, then added this.

Speaker 4: We believe in redemption. We believe in second chances. We're not looking backwards. We're looking forward.

Speaker 1: Well, apparently so is Enrique Tarrio. Here's what he told Alex Jones last night.

Speaker 6: They didn't care about the evidence. They cared about putting Trump supporters in prison. Now, it's Archer.