Respected Conservative Republican columnist, Peggy Noonan, labeled the January 6th (J6) assault on the Capitol a “sin against history.”  Likewise, President Trump’s brazen blanket pardoning of all those who he acknowledged displayed “radical crazy” behavior at the J6 insurrection was also a sin against history. His sweeping pardons marked the beginning of the end of one of the largest investigations in FBI history, which resulted in criminal charges filed against more than 1,500 people and criminal convictions of more than 1,100 defendants.On inauguration day President Trump issued roughly 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14 of his supporters in connection with the storming of the U.S. Capitol building that he incited by falsely claiming that the presidential election was rigged against him. President Trump commuted the sentences of individuals associated with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy.  More specifically, he issued a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. This included people who assaulted law enforcement officers. Shockingly the sentence of Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the far-right Proud Boys, who received the longest sentence of 22 years for seditious conspiracy, was commuted. The list of those receiving clemency included Stephen Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys, who was credited with being the first to break a window on the Senate side of the Capitol for others to scramble through, who got a 10-year sentence. At the time Trump issued the pardons, there were about 700 defendants who either never received prison sentences or had already completed their sentences. More than 600 people were sentenced to incarceration (250 for assault charges), but only a small fraction of them are still behind bars. Many of those who are in the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons were convicted of violent attacks on police officers. Among the items that the defendants were armed with included:  firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, pepper spray, a tomahawk ax, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, Trump flags, a pitch fork, and even an explosive device. Many of the attacks were captured on surveillance or body camera footage and clearly showed rioters engaged in hand-to-hand combat with police officers desperately fighting to beat back the angry crowd. More than 140 police officers were injured. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, who was Speaker of the House during the attack, and who Trump now absurdly blames the insurrection on for not bringing troops to the Capitol, said “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… It’s a shame 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.” Key Trump allies in recent weeks had said they did not expect pardons of people who engaged in violence. “The president does not like people who abuse police officers,” Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee to become Attorney General, said at her Senate confirmation hearing last week. Vice President J.D. Vance had told Fox News earlier this month: “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.” However, Trump had talked about pardoning J6 defendants who he calls “political prisoners” and “hostages.” “We’ll be looking very, very seriously at full pardons,” Trump told a Pittsburg broadcaster in September 2022. “They’ve been so badly treated.” The unprecedented attack on the Capitol was one of the most significant moments in American history.  Granting clemency for those who participated in the most dangerous insurrection act since the civil war is a direct affront to our democracy. In an interview with Fox News host, Sean Hannity, President Trump, explained his blanket pardon by calling the instances of violence against police officers “very minor incidents.” The pardons will not change the truth regarding what happened on J6. The President’s dismal of the charges is an attempt to normalize what occurred on January 6th.  That is a shameful attempt to re-write history. It would have been far more acceptable if the President had opted to have a blue-ribbon committee review what occurred at the Capitol, on a case-by-case basis to see if any participant was falsely accused or convicted.  However, to condone the J6 insurrection by granting blanket pardons to all of the defendants shows disdain for the Constitution and the rule of law. Peggy Noonan nailed it when she wrote the following the day after the insurrection “This was an attack on democracy itself. That is not just a phrase. Rule by the people relies on adherence to law and process. The assault and siege was an attempt to stop the work of democracy by halting the peaceful transfer of presidential power, our crowning glory for more than two centuries.”  he across-the-board pardons by President Trump of his willing soldiers in his J6 insurrection against the government is clear evidence that Ms. Noonan was correct when she further wrote this about President Trump: “America is not safe in his hands.” Irwin Stoolmacher is president of the Stoolmacher Consulting Group, a fundraising and strategic planning firm that works with nonprofit agencies that serve the truly needy among us.