Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) slammed President Trump's decision to grant sweeping pardons to those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, suggesting they are "political foot soldiers" for Trump. “Are they being released as a reserve army of political foot soldiers to act on behalf of MAGA and Donald Trump?” Raskin told CNN's Erin Burnett during an appearance on the network Tuesday night. “I think that’s what’s so profoundly troubling to a majority of the American people who rejected the idea of freeing at least the violent criminals and the ones who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, which means conspiracy to overthrow the government," he added. Leaders of the far-right groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were among those pardoned by Trump on his first day in office Monday. Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was released from prison after receiving a full pardon from Trump. Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years after being convicted on seditious conspiracy and other charges connected to the 2021 riot. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison on similar charges, had his sentence commuted by Trump to time served. Raskin argued Tuesday that those individuals and others have not committed to changed behavior and noted Trump has not publicly shared information about any private conversations urging defendants not to interrupt the "peaceful transfer of power." “Pardons in that case are reserved for people who are reformed, people who are rehabilitated and no longer constitute a threat to public safety, so that’s what’s missing in this conversation,” Raskin told CNN. "If President Trump had come forth and said, 'We’ve spoken to these people, they are not going to be attacking police officers in the future, the way that they bloodied and wounded and hospitalized 140 of them in Washington, D.C., they are not going to be attacking the rule of law and democratic institutions, they are not going to be interrupting the peaceful transfer of power and they’re not going to be a threat to their communities, but we haven’t heard anything like that. So then the question is, why are they being released?" Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Evening Report newsletter Subscribe Raskin, who served on the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riot, has condemned Trump's pardons while seeking to distinguish between his own pardon he received from former President Biden on Biden's way out of office. Democratic lawmakers including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) have broadly criticized Trump for his decision to pardon those charged in connection to the Capitol riot. “The President's actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution,” Pelosi wrote in a Monday post on X.  “It is shameful that the President has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has also spoken out against the move to pardon those convicted of assaulting police officers, calling it a “bad idea” while defending the move to pardon those who entered the Capitol illegally but didn't destroy property or assault officers.