Capitol Police chief: Jan. 6 pardons send message that “politics is more important than policing”

Washington — U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said he’s concerned by the sweeping pardons President Trump issued Monday night to those convicted or facing charges of assaulting police officers after the Capitol riot four years ago.

“I think it sends the message that politics is more important than policing,” Manger told “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell on Tuesday. 

Hours after Mr. Trump was sworn in on Monday, he granted clemency to about 1,500 defendants who had been convicted of crimes related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Among those who received clemency are people who were convicted of violent and serious crimes, including assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. 

The president also ordered the Justice Department to end all pending cases connected to the riot, abruptly ending the department’s massive effort under former President Joe Biden to hold those who participated in the attack accountable. 

“I’m concerned for my officers. I’m concerned about what message they get from these actions,” Manger said, adding that it could prompt officers to question why they put themselves in harm’s way. 

“My concern is the message that it sends when people who are arrested for committing violence against police officers are not held to account,” he said. And I worry about the morale of my officers. I worry about just how this impacts them, and I don’t want them handling some protest or making some arrest in the future and scratching their head wondering, ‘Well, I wonder what’s going to happen with this case?'” 

He said many officers have expressed anger about the pardons. 

“They’re upset, and I don’t blame them,” Manger said. 

“They believe that they were doing their job properly that day, and this sends a message to them that somehow it was OK for these folks to do the things that they did,” he said. 

Mr. Trump has long downplayed the events of that day, referring to the defendants as “hostages.” On Monday night, Mr. Trump said, “these people have been destroyed.” Mr. Trump added Tuesday, “these people have already served years in prison.” 

More than 140 officers from Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department were assaulted during the riot, according to the Justice Department. Over 170 defendants were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer during the siege that interrupted Congress as it was certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory over Mr. Trump. 

Manger said he’s “always worried” about the safety of his officers, but risks and threats come with the job. 

“Cops will willingly put themselves in harm’s way, and they don’t ask a lot,” he said. “But I will tell you, it means a lot to those police officers if they know that they have the support of the community and that if something were to happen to them, that the community would do the right thing and take care of them.” 

Manger also said Biden’s commutation of the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier “sends a pretty poor message” to the FBI and all law enforcement. Peltier was convicted in the 1975 killing of two FBI agents. 

“Those FBI agents are still dead, and yet, the man that killed them has been set free, and I think that the impact that that has on every man or woman who wears a badge in this country, it’s just terrible for them,” Manger said.