Pamela Hemphill — a self-described “ex-MAGA Granny” who was convicted for her role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 attack — said Tuesday that she declined President Donald Trump’s pardon because she didn’t want to be part of his “narrative.”
Hemphill — in an interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown — pointed to Trump’s talk of a “weaponization” of the Justice Department, adding that other convicted rioters have since tagged along and claimed they weren’t allowed due process.
“And it’s all a lie,” said Hemphill, who spent two months in a federal prison and remains on probation for participating in the riot. She’s one of 1,500 people the president pardoned on his first day in office for their roles in the attack.
Among those who received pardons were hundreds of rioters convicted of assaulting officers, roughly 1,000 nonviolent offenders and around 200 people accused of assaulting police. Their cases are pending. A number of those pardoned have since been rearrested.
Hemphill has distanced herself from her unofficial “MAGA” moniker and hit back at Trump in 2023 for “using” her cancer battle in a Truth Social post.
