STORY: U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping pardon of more than 1,500 people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol drew outrage from lawmakers as well as police officers who battled the mob in 2021.

:: Trump unconstrained

The unconditional pardons come despite both Vice President JD Vance and Trump's pick for attorney general previously saying they believed those who committed violent crimes were unlikely to be pardoned.

Reuters reporter Joey Ax:

"This is a really clear signal right off the bat that Trump in his second term is not going to feel particularly constrained. He's going to do what he wants to do without a lot of regard for whether it's popular, whether other people on his team, whether other Republicans think it's the right thing to do. This is Trump 2.0. This is an unfettered president who feels that he can use executive power as aggressively as he wants to. // The message, if you want to call it that to his supporters, is that he's rewarding those who are loyal to him. Right. But the more dangerous version of that, I suppose, is he's signaling that even people who engage in political violence can be assured that he'll take care of them as long as it was done in support of his political aims."

:: Pardons and commutations

Trump's pardons extended from the people who committed only misdemeanors such as trespassing to those who attacked police officers and to the far smaller group who planned the assault on democracy.

An attorney for Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys, said he was released from prison on Tuesday.

Tarrio, was not present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but was serving 22 years in prison, the longest sentence imposed on any defendant, after he was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in planning the attack.

Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers militia who had his 18-year prison sentence commuted, was released as well.

Rhodes was one of 14 people whom Trump released from prison early without fully pardoning them. That means they will continue to face some restrictions, including a ban on owning firearms.

:: Reactions to pardons

Some Republican lawmakers have criticized the pardons including Senator Thom Tillis, who said pardoning rioters who assaulted police sent the wrong message.

Craig Sicknick, the brother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick who was assaulted during the riot and died of multiple strokes the next day, called Trump's action despicable and that "it proves the United States no longer has anything that resembles a justice system."

More than 600 people were charged with assaulting or obstructing police during the riot, according to U.S. Justice Department figures.

Some 140 police officers were injured.

Michael Fanone, a former officer with Washington's Metropolitan Police Department who suffered severe injuries during the riot, said he was upset that six people who assaulted him that day would walk free.