President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office...

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump on Monday issued a mass pardon to nearly all of the Jan. 6 defendants, including some Long Islanders, in connection with the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"We hope they come out tonight frankly," said Trump, as he signed the pardons in the Oval Office Monday night.

Trump used his clemency powers in the first hours of his presidency, issuing pardons to about 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants. Trump commuted the sentences of 14 of the defendants, saying their cases needed to be studied further. It was not immediately clear which defendants received commutations.

The move to grant mass clemency to those who have been arrested and charged in connection with the insurrection fulfills one of Trump's campaign promises.

Several Jan. 6 defendants from Long Island are among those who were granted clemency by Trump. It is not clear if any of the Long Island defendants had their sentences commuted.

Peter Moloney, a former co-owner of the Suffolk County-based Moloney Family Funeral Homes, has pleaded guilty to assault charges for physically attacking police officers and two people he believed were members of the media. He had been scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 11.

Prosecutors have alleged Moloney sprayed four Capitol police officers with a can of Black Flag Wasp, Hornet & Yellow Jacket Killer.

Matthew Schmitz, of Lindenhurst, a member of the Long Island chapter of the white supremacist group known as the Proud Boys, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in September in connection with the attack. He admitting he "overwhelmed a police line" and broke a window before he entered the Capitol and disrupted the proceeding of Congress certifying the election results. Schmitz was sentenced to three years of probation.

Greg Rubenacker, 26, of Farmingdale, was sentenced in 2022 to nearly 3½ years in prison and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution for assaulting federal officers and committing other crimes during the Jan. 6 attack.

Eric Gerwatowski, of New Hyde Park, was sentenced in 2023 to 2 years of probation, 30 days of home detention and ordered to pay $2,000 to the Architect of the Capitol for damages incurred after he pleaded guilty to his role, prosecutors said. Prosecutors alleged he pulled open a door to the Capitol and yelled to other rioters: "Let's go!"

Anthony Mastanduno, a former Farmingdale resident who now lives in North Carolina and who was known on social media as "Shield Grampy," was sentenced in June to 57 months in prison for throwing a "flagpole-like object ... as if throwing a javelin or spear" at officers and pushing officers with a police shield and trying to strike them with a baton, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty to six felony charges.

Massapequa couple Kevin Moore, 65, and Carol Moore, 61, were charged with two counts of remaining in a restricted government building and two counts of disorderly conduct in the Capitol — all misdemeanor charges.

The Moores were two of 11 Jan. 6 defendants who were granted approval by a federal judge to attend Trump's inauguration festivities in Washington, D.C.

Rioters stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan....

Rioters stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021.  Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

The U.S. Department of Justice, under the administration of President Joe Biden, has charged 1,583 defendants, who prosecutors said disrupted a joint session of Congress as it was preparing to affirm the 2020 presidential election results, which saw Biden defeat Trump.

Some 1,100 of the defendants have been sentenced, including 667 who received penalties of incarceration, the Department of Justice had said.

Trump had long forecast his plans to grant clemency to the Jan. 6 defendants of reelected. He vowed to pardon those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election. including several defendants from Long Island, calling them "hostages" and "political prisoners."

On the day before his inauguration, Trump referenced his plans on stage at a preinaugural celebration.

"And tomorrow, everybody in this very large arena will be very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages, very happy," Trump said to cheers, according to broadcasts of the event. "I think you'll be very, very happy."
Trump has downplayed the violence that took place, which included attacks on police officers, and referred to the Jan. 6 attack as "a day of love."

He has referred to the defendants, many if not all of them Trump supporters, as "political prisoners."

More than 140 police officers were assaulted that day, the Justice Department said. Some 608 Jan. 6 defendants were charged with "assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement agents or officers or obstructing those officers during a civil disorder," the Justice Department said.

Vice President-elect JD Vance publicly parted ways with his boss on the issue.

Vance, in a recent Fox News interview, said: "if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned."

As president, Trump has broad powers to grant clemency, including pardons, to defendants in the federal criminal justice system.

On Monday night, The Associated Press also reported the president is directing the attorney general to seek dismissal of about 450 pending cases against alleged Capitol rioters.

Former President Joe Biden, in a last minute clemency act unveiled just hours before he was to leave office, issued preemptive pardons to staff and members of the Jan. 6 House Committee, who investigated the Capitol attack, including his political nemesis Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. He also preemptively pardoned Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who detailed Trump's conduct on Jan. 6 and called him a "fascist" and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped coordinate the Biden administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as Biden's chief medical adviser.

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Snowy mix hits region ... What's the future of NUMC? ... LI Swifties ready for the big game ... Chow down in Charleston ... What's up on Long Island

Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV Credit: Newsday

Snowy mix hits region ... What's the future of NUMC? ... LI Swifties ready for the big game ... Chow down in Charleston ... What's up on Long Island

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