Bremen’s head of government Andreas Bovenschulte has sharply criticized the pardons by the new US President Donald Trump. If a president pardons 1,500 convicted people for political reasons, “then that is the end of the rule of law,” the SPD politician wrote on Platform X. “It simply means that the president’s supporters are above the law.”
Shortly after taking office, Trump pardoned all supporters convicted of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He also ordered the Justice Department to drop all other pending criminal proceedings in the case. A US president has the authority to shorten the sentences of perpetrators convicted under federal law or to pardon those convicted entirely – even retrospectively, i.e. after a sentence has been served.