WASHINGTON, DC – When Kevin Loftus became one of the Capitol rioters granted a sweeping pardon by new US President Donald Trump, he walked out of the Philadelphia prison where he was being held and drove overnight to Washington without even stopping to change his clothes.
Loftus was making a beeline for the Washington prison that has become a focal point for the Trump supporters convicted of storming the Capitol building in Washington on January 6, 2021, and that still holds 15 of the rioters.
The 56-year-old came, he told AFP early Tuesday, to “get everybody out.”
Hours after being sworn in on Monday, Trump granted pardons to more than 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol — including those convicted of assaulting police officers.
He described them as “hostages” and ordered that all pending criminal cases against Capitol riot defendants be dropped.
Loftus, standing in the freezing cold of an unusually frigid morning in the US capital, told AFP about waiting Monday night for Trump to follow through on his promise to pardon the rioters.
He described watching footage of Trump signing a raft of executive orders — except there was no volume on the TV in his cell.
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Man, I hope our pardons are in there,’” he said.
Trump signed the pardons in the evening, and Loftus was given the news several hours later. They said “’You’re getting out of here. Pack your stuff,’” he related. “I’m like, woohoo!”
He was freed by 2:00 am along with another inmate jailed over the Capitol attack, William Sarsfield III.
Sarsfield’s wife had driven for more than 20 hours from Texas to pick them up — and when she did, they went straight to Washington.
