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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, all of us can remember that when the Biden administration took office, one of the first issues facing them was the evacuation of American forces from Afghanistan. That effort had started under President Trump in the previous administration, but it was up to Joe Biden to execute the plan for that to happen.

The sad reality is that during the course of that evacuation, American troops lost their lives. I am sure that haunted President Biden every day he served as President, that the moment when he was being tested, he did not come through for those men in uniform who risked their lives and gave their lives in that effort. Those deaths haunted him, I am sure, during the 4 years of his Presidency.

I would say to the new President, Donald Trump, serving his second term, he has an issue that is going to haunt him. I can't tell you for how long, and I don't know exactly how it will affect our country, but it has already started. It started when he decided about 10 days ago to grant clemency to the January 6 offenders, those men who were engaged in an insurrectionist mob activity that overran the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

I know something about this because I was here. I was in this chair when the mob that you have seen on television and in videos over and over again were taking control of this Capitol.

Presiding over the U.S. Senate--we were all in our seats--was the Vice President of the United States, Vice President Pence. We were counting the electoral votes in each State to decide who was the official winner of the Presidential election. It was happening right after President Trump had his rally not far from here and told his supporters and demonstrators to come up to the Capitol Building, which they did in vast numbers. And they didn't just come here for a casual visit; they came to break down the doors and break down the windows and to invade this building.

I am not exaggerating. You have seen it on the videos; you know what happened.

The net result of it is a lot of brave men and women who were part of the Capitol Hill Police force and the DC Police force stood in their way and tried to stop them and were beaten back. Over 140 of these officers were seriously injured by the demonstrators and the insurrectionists who were coming into this building. Several lost their lives. That was the reality of what happened.

The net result of it was one of the largest prosecutions in the history of the United States. Ultimately, hundreds of them paid a price for that violent activity on January 6 and what they did to our policemen.

The same policemen who are standing in the hallway now and protecting you--they are the people who were assaulted on that day. In fact, on the floor at this moment, I notice across the way one of the officers who stood before us that day and gave us instructions as to what to do. After Vice President Pence was removed, this officer of the Capitol Police told us: Stay in this Chamber. Stay in your seats. This is going to be a safe room.

That lasted about 10 minutes, and he came back in and said: We have changed the plan. Evacuate this room as fast as possible.

We all went outside the door.

It was a dangerous moment. It took hours before we could take the Capitol back from these demonstrators and marauders.

The men and women who were dedicated to their cause did things that were outrageous in terms of desecrating this building, the U.S. Capitol Building, this symbol of America. They desecrated it, and they had to be stopped. A lot of brave men and women in uniform risked their lives and some gave their lives as a consequence of it.

Many of them went to jail after they had been charged with crimes on that day of January 6, and it wasn't until the first day of the Trump Presidency that they finally had a chance for a pardon, and President Trump gave them that opportunity by releasing them from jail.

It is important to know what happened afterwards. You would think these men--largely men--who had served time in jail, some of them for lengthy sentences--up to 20 years--when they were released with this pardon by President Trump, would go about their business and resume a normal, law-abiding life. That is not the fact.

Let me tell you what happened in the 10 days since President Trump granted these pardons, just so far as we know of those who were released from jail for their violence on the U.S. Capitol of January 6. I am going to do it by name.

Matthew Huttle, released by President Trump by pardon, was shot and killed by the Indiana State Police earlier this week after a traffic stop, when he resisted arrest while in possession of a firearm.

Daniel Ball has already been rearrested, since he was released with the Trump pardon, on gun charges related to past convictions for domestic violence by strangulation and battery against a law enforcement officer.

These two individuals not only assaulted the law enforcement officers protecting us in the Capitol, when they were released by pardon from President Trump, they did it again in the week that has transpired since that happened.

Andrew Taake assaulted police at the Capitol with bear spray and a metal weapon. He is now wanted in the State of Texas for soliciting a minor for sex and a felony carrying a charge of up to 10 years in prison.

Enrique Tarrio, the head of the Proud Boys organization, a domestic terrorist group which has been identified for many years--he was convicted of seditious conspiracy on January 6 for his role in planning that riot. Here is what he said after his release:

Success is going to be retribution. Now it's our turn.

Stewart Rhodes, head of the Oath Keepers, another domestic terrorist group, convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in planning the riot, said after his pardon by Trump and release:

The people who did this, they need to feel the heat. They need to be put behind bars and they need to be prosecuted.

He said January 6 should be remembered as ``Patriot's Day.'' He said he had no regrets ``because we did the right thing.''

Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon Shaman, posted on X after his pardon--and I have to leave some of the words out now:

I AM GONNA BUY SOME [MF] GUNS . . . and EVERYTHING done in the dark WILL come to light.

Let's be clear. President Biden's acts of clemency are far more defensible than President Trump's pardons on January 6. Sadly--sadly-- for law enforcement officers across the country, they are going to face many of these people again.

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