Jan 6 rioter Pamela Hemphill says she will refuse Trump’s pardon
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Reformed ‘MAGA Granny’, who spent 60 days in jail for her role in the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol, has since washed her hands of the president-elect’s movement, calling it a ‘cult’. Pamela Hemphill, a grandmother in her seventies who was jailed for taking part in the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol four years ago, has said she will “refuse” a pardon from President-elect Donald Trump once he takes office.
![[Pamela Hemphill being led away from the US Capitol following the riot on January 6 2021]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/06/26/21/newFile.jpg)
The incoming commander-in-chief has vowed to issue widespread presidential pardons to his supporters convicted for nonviolent offences over the infamous attack on January 6 2021. Members of the “Stop the Steal” movement, wrongly believing Joe Biden’s victory over Trump the previous November had been secured by fraud, sought to prevent the formal certification of the election results that day by storming the Capitol, brawling with police officers, smashing windows and forcing their way inside, leaving lawmakers and their aides fleeing for their lives before order could be restored.
“I will refuse a pardon from felon Trump!”. Hemphill was responding to a post by former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, who served on the bipartisan House committee that investigated the riot and has likewise said he would reject a presidential pardon from Biden to shield him from retaliatory measures by Trump’s FBI or Justice Department.
Eight months later, FBI agents arrived at her front door. She ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of demonstrating, picketing or parading in a Capitol building in federal court in 2022 and apologized for “everything I said and did at the Capitol”.
