Jan. 6 rioter Pamela Hemphill has refused a pardon from President Trump, and is now expecting him to come after her.
More than 1,500 people who participated in the U.S. Capitol Insurrection have been pardoned by Trump this year. However, when Hemphill, from Idaho, was pardoned by the president on Jan. 20, the 72-year-old contacted her local Republican senator, James Risch, to formally refuse and block it.
“Ms. Hemphill’s non-acceptance is noted,” the pardon’s attorney office acknowledged on April 2, while a spokesperson for Senator Risch told CBS News, “Due to privacy concerns, we cannot disclose details about individual cases.”
The grandmother, 72, spent 60 days in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges related to the riot in July, 2022. She explained her battle to refuse Trump’s pardon to CBS and claimed she was expecting the president to mention her at any moment.
“Trump will probably say, ‘that ungrateful lady, I’m going to make sure she gets back on probation and give her the worst you can give her.’ I won’t be surprised,” she said.
““We were guilty, period,” Hemphill added. “The pardons just contribute to their narrative, which is all lies, propaganda.”
“We all know that they’re gaslighting us. They are using January 6 to just continue Trump’s narrative that the Justice Department was weaponized. They were not. When the FBI came to my home, oh my God, they were very professional. They treated me very good.”
Hemphill’s reaction to her pardon is out of the ordinary, according to former Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer, who was sacked by the Trump administration in March.
“Some Jan. 6 defendants blew up our phones seeking a copy of their pardons. They wanted the copies quickly. They wanted it framed and signed,” Oyer told CBS.
Hemphill labelled President Trump “a felon” on her social media in January. She told the Daily Beast last year she realized, “I was trespassing. I had a choice—I could have left.”
It’s a stark reversal from a post on Dec. 28, 2020 on Hemphill’s social media that read “It’s a WAR!” and one day later when she posted, “On my way to Washington DC January 6th.” She was arrested two days after Jan. 6.
Hemphill said she has had time to reflect on her actions, even if they have made her the target of MAGA hate. Some have labelled her an “FBI plant” and she also has also been targeted by former Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio on social media.
“How could you sleep at night taking a pardon when you know you were guilty? You know that everybody there was guilty. I couldn’t live with myself. I have to be right with me. And with God,” Hemphill said.
