Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HR0118

HR0118 LRB104 12095 MST 22193 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, President Donald Trump's first day in office included no effort to address the cost of groceries, to create economic security for working families, or to expand access to healthcare but was instead focused on issuing blanket pardons for his supporters who were tried and convicted for their role in his January 6, 2021 insurrection; and

WHEREAS, On January 6, 2021, a mob of President Trump loyalists, summoned and ginned up by President Trump himself, stormed the United States Capitol Building, attempting to stop the peaceful transfer of power; and

WHEREAS, These violent Trump extremists injured 140 law enforcement officers, attacking police with bats, poles, mace, and stolen police shields and batons; four officers died as a result; and

WHEREAS, More than 1,100 criminals were convicted for their actions that day, with 1,030 admitting their own guilt; and

WHEREAS, Immediately after swearing to uphold the Constitution, President Trump gave his "full, complete, and unconditional pardon" to 1,500 individuals who attacked the Constitution and the Rule of Law; and

WHEREAS, President Trump pardoned a man convicted of repeatedly assaulting police officers with pepper spray; and

WHEREAS, President Trump pardoned a man convicted of assaulting police officers with two cans of bear spray; and

WHEREAS, President Trump pardoned a man convicted of using a police riot shield to "crush" a Washington D.C. police officer; and

WHEREAS, President Trump pardoned a man convicted of using a stun gun and "plunging it" multiple times into an officer's neck; and

WHEREAS, President Trump pardoned a man convicted of choking an officer to the ground; and

WHEREAS, President Trump pardoned a man convicted of entering the United States Senate chamber equipped with zip ties prosecutors said were to be used as makeshift hand cuffs; and

WHEREAS, President Trump freed members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were convicted of seditious conspiracy; and

WHEREAS, President Trump pardoned a man who wrote on social media that his actions assaulting officers on January 6 were "the opening of a war"; and

WHEREAS, President Trump pardoned criminals with prior convictions for rape, sexual abuse of a minor, domestic violence, manslaughter, production of child sexual abuse material, and drug trafficking; and

WHEREAS, While President Trump describes these violent criminals as "patriots", they are anything but; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we condemn President Donald Trump's inexcusable pardons of his coconspirators and criminals convicted of attacking police officers, attacking our Capitol, and attacking our democracy; and be it further

RESOLVED, That as President Trump continues to grow his big lie about the 2020 election, the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and his role in fomenting it, we affirm historical facts that no presidential pardons can rewrite:

(1) President Trump lost the 2020 Presidential Election;

(2) The President Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 committed crimes and tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power; and

(3) President Trump's role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection and his subsequent pardon of those involved will forever be his shameful legacy.