Relief, revenge but little repentance: Trump's pardons delight Jan. 6 offenders
In interviews with a dozen Jan. 6 offenders who received pardons from Trump, they were largely grateful for his deliverance, but signs of remorse were in short supply, though a few others have expressed contrition.
WASHINGTON — Gina Bisignano’s strategy paid off. For years, the Jan. 6 defendant had done anything and everything she could to delay her criminal case in connection with her actions during the Capitol attack, hoping and praying that Donald Trump would be re-elected and pardon her.
On Monday, just two days before her 56th birthday, Bisignano had another reason to celebrate, when Trump issued pardons that erased the case against her. A federal judge signed the dismissal on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Bisignano was a free woman.
“I have no regrets,” Bisignano said, adding that she wouldn’t change anything even if “you handed me a million dollars.”
Sandy Weir, a Trump supporter who was released from prison in February, holds a placard outside the D.C. Central Detention Facility where some defendants from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol are being held, on Tuesday.Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty ImagesIt was a common thread among a dozen interviews NBC News conducted with Jan. 6 offenders who received pardons from Trump this week. They were uniformly grateful for Trump’s deliverance, but unlike in many of the sentencing hearings held at Washington’s federal courthouse in recent years, signs of remorse were in short supply, though a few others have expressed contrition. Many still hold onto the false, debunked notion — stoked by Trump as recently as Monday, while standing in the Capitol — that the 2020 election was stolen. And while some of those pardoned spoke words of conciliation, others hinted eagerly at a reckoning to come.
Bisignano told NBC News she believes that God placed her in the lower west tunnel of the Capitol, where some of the worst violence took place on Jan. 6, 2021, and where she picked up a megaphone and encouraged a mob of her fellow Trump supporters to join the battle.
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