CBS News - Senate Democrats ready formal resolution to condemn Trump's pardons of Jan. 6 defendants

By Scott MacFarlane

Updated on: January 26, 2025 / 10:02 AM EST / CBS News

A group of Senate Democrats will attempt on Monday to raise the political pressure on Republicans to condemn President Trump's pardon of violent Capitol insurrectionists.

CBS News has learned senior Democrats will seek to pass a resolution by unanimous consent that formally denounces the pardons of the rioters who were convicted of assaulting and injuring police on Jan. 6, 2021.

In one of Mr. Trump's first executive actions, he pardoned roughly 1,500 people charged — nearly everyone charged, with the seven others having their sentences commuted — in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, making no distinction for people charged with violent crimes.

Though the resolution is unlikely to pass through the Republican-controlled Senate, its formal introduction could force some Republicans to publicly and declaratively object to the measure. The "unanimous consent" proposal that will be formally introduced Monday is expected to require at least one Republican Senator to publicly formally object to block the resolution's passage.

The senators' resolution has brief language. The resolution specifies, "Resolved, That the Senate disapproves of any pardons for individuals who were found guilty of assaulting Capitol Police officers."

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