Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) unleashed a fiery rebuke Monday on MSNBC’s Inside, condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon approximately 1,500 individuals convicted for their roles in the January 6 Capitol events.

Jan 20, 2025; Washington, DC, USA; Newly sworn-in President Donald Trump takes part in a signing ceremony in the President’s Room following the 60th inaugural ceremony on January 20, 2025, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Trump became the 47th president of the United States in a rare indoor inauguration ceremony. (Photo by Melina Mara /The Washington Post)Mandatory Credit: Melina Mara-Pool via Imagn Images

Trump also commuted sentences for eight others in what Schiff labeled a “grotesque display” of power, as reported by Breitbart.

During the broadcast, host Jen Psaki set the tone, stating,

“In the last hour, Donald Trump, in the Oval Office, pardoned 1,500 people convicted for the attack on our Capitol. You did so much important work on the January 6th Committee. What’s going through your head right now?”

Schiff, clearly exasperated, pulled no punches. “It’s obscene,” he declared.

“A grotesque display of his new power as president to pardon these 15 or 1,600 people, which I have to imagine includes individuals who committed violent assaults on law enforcement. It certainly includes, apparently, one of the leaders of the Proud Boys. Rather fitting, sadly, that among his very first acts in office is to give a pardon to a white nationalist leader like that.”

The California Democrat wasn’t done.

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Reflecting on the events of January 6 and the gravity of Trump’s move, Schiff said, “So hard to imagine that we were sitting in the Capitol, the site of that attack, and hours later, the man who incited that attack pardons the people who participated in it. It really is a terrible way to begin, but not a surprising way to begin the new administration.”

Dec 18, 2019; Washington, DC, USA; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff at the press conference on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 following the vote by House of Representatives on the articles of impeachment against Donald J. Trump. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY

The pardons mark a bold opening to Trump’s renewed presidency, signaling a continuation of his unapologetically combative approach.

While Trump’s supporters hail the move as an act of justice for those they view as political prisoners, critics like Schiff see it as a dangerous escalation, cementing divisions and undermining accountability.

While Democrats celebrated Biden’s moves as “reform,” conservatives pointed out the hypocrisy of their outrage over Trump’s pardons.

Biden’s selective approach highlights a glaring double standard—Democrats cheer when their agenda is advanced, but cry foul when a Republican president uses his constitutional authority.

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