Speaker 1: It was a campaign promise made good just hours into a second term as president. After the inauguration, Donald Trump signed mass pardons for the rioters who stormed the Capitol four years earlier, some of whom were convicted of violent crimes. The stark difference at the Capitol between the transfers of power from 2021 until now serve as a stark reminder of what unfolded and is now forgiven by law. But the move is bringing mixed emotion. Some say it's a long time coming. Others, including a January 6th rioter, say that those pardons aren't warranted and won't change the past. RJ O'Brien reports in tonight's Prime Focus.

Speaker 2: And this is such an emotional day. Waiting for this moment for so long, now so close they can touch it. These protesters didn't mind the freezing temperatures. It's so cold, but it's worth it. And in a flash, it happened.

Speaker 3: I got my boy.

Speaker 2: Alleged January 6th rioters.

Speaker 3: Hey, Nick.

Speaker 2: Seen on this YouTube live stream embracing their family after walking out of the Washington, D.C. jail. For more than 900 days, these demonstrators have been pushing for that moment. Holding a nightly vigil, talking on speakerphone, even joining in song with accused January 6th rioters. Incarcerated just steps away. But this night is different.

Speaker 4: Thank you, President Trump. We're coming home.

Speaker 2: A celebration. So this is a big one. Those sweeping pardons of more than 1,500 January 6th defendants signed just hours into President Trump's second term include Robert Morse, convicted of assaulting police officers on January 6th, including participating in this. A massive heave-ho motion in this Capitol tunnel that crushed at least one officer. Morse drove here to this vigil after he was officially released early from his halfway house in Pennsylvania following Trump's pardons. Is there any justification, though, for hitting a police officer regardless of the circumstance?

Speaker 5: I would say that the justification for defending yourself would have to be predicated on the threat level. And if you have been- It seems like a lot of justification for hurting a cop. I would never say that there's any justification for hurting anybody. And we're not the party that condones violence. But what they did do was roughhouse and people let them know to leave our people alone.

Speaker 2: Multiple accused January 6th rioters have put forward defenses that they were incited to violence by police. None have been successful in court. 140 police officers were injured that day, according to the Department of Justice. The D.C. Police Union saying it was dismayed by the pardons. And the Capitol Police Chief saying in a memo to his officers, anyone who attacks law enforcement should be met with consequences, condemnation, and accountability. On January 6th, a mob of Donald Trump supporters fueled by false claims the 2020 election was stolen. Smashed their way through the Capitol, jolting the nation. While most rioters were charged with nonviolent offenses, more than 250 were convicted of violent crimes, including assaulting police officers. And in the attack's aftermath, condemnation from members of both parties was swift. Like Senator Rick Scott, who posted, the thugs who stormed the Capitol today and incited violence should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Every single one of them. But after Trump's sweeping pardons covering nearly all January 6th defendants, Republicans largely defended the move, including Scott.

Speaker 6: So many people were unfairly prosecuted.

Speaker 2: But what about those who assaulted police officers and then were pardoned by the president?

Speaker 5: I haven't seen any, I haven't gone to the detail. But there are those pardons that exist. I'll have to read it.

Speaker 2: 14 January 6th defendants did not receive pardons, but instead had their sentences commuted. All are members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers charged with sedition. Prosecutors saying they tried to use the Capitol attack to stop the peaceful transfer of power. What's your message to President Trump again, Mr. Rhodes? Oh, just thank you. Thanks to Trump, the Oath Keepers founder, Stuart Rhodes, was released early from his 18-year prison sentence and came back to Washington, D.C. to celebrate. What about those other defendants, Mr. Rhodes, who are on camera beating police officers? Do they deserve a pardon?

Speaker 4: Yes, like I said before, it's about the presumption of innocence. Because they were not given a fair trial, it doesn't make a difference what the evidence is, you still have a right to a trial. On camera doing it, they went to trial, they were convicted by a jury of their peers. You still have a right to a fair trial. And if the jury is drawn from, the jury pool is drawn from the victim pool. The judges themselves said that all of the people who live in D.C. were the victims of January the 6th.

Speaker 2: That is the exact opposite of what Heather Shainer told us, a public defender who's represented more than 40 non-violent January 6th defendants.

Speaker 3: I think, as an attorney, I think they have been handled with excruciating fairness.

Speaker 2: And this is from someone who's been representing a number of them.

Speaker 3: And my clients feel the same way, by the way.

Speaker 2: That they were treated fairly.

Speaker 3: Yep. They got a public defender, they were given all the evidence against them, and they got what they considered fair pleas and fair sentences.

Speaker 2: Jason Riddle feels the same. He was sentenced to 90 days in prison after pleading guilty to illegally protesting in the Capitol and raiding a liquor cabinet. He wants nothing to do with a Trump pardon.

Speaker 6: Because I did it, I'm guilty of the crime. January 6th was like the biggest display of disrespect you ever saw in your life. Like, it was, you know, I'm in there raiding a liquor cabinet, people were smearing crap all over the walls. And like, Trump called that a beautiful day. Trump said that was a day of love. I mean, this is pretty horrifying things that are happening. Stop the steal.

Speaker 2: For years, we've watched as that battle has been waged over the truth of January 6th.

Speaker 5: Oh, the man for me.

Speaker 2: Including at this nightly jailhouse vigil. From the sweltering summer. To me. To snow-swept January. And even as these demonstrators get their wish, they tell us this campaign to rebrand and attack on the peaceful transfer of power itself is far from over.

Speaker 1: Our thanks to Joe O'Brien for his extensive J6 reporting.