President Donald Trump shocked Washington when he signed mass pardons for nonviolent and violent Jan. 6 rioters alike, going drastically further than his transition officials conveyed he would for the long-telegraphed clemency.
But not everyone was so surprised. Trump’s longtime supporters and members of the online right made clear to Trump officials that going short of complete mass pardons wouldn’t be accepted and sought to push the president, according to three sources familiar with the conversations.
“Anything less than a full pardon would have been widely panned by the base,” said one Republican official familiar with the pressure campaign. Trump had “lots of pressure from the base on this, particularly influential figures on the online right that pushed him in that direction.”