A politically divided Minnesota Senate passed a resolution Tuesday condemning President Donald Trump’s pardons of the participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection that sought to keep Trump in office.

The resolution, SR15, authored by Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, states that the Senate expresses “condemnation of President Trump’s pardon of criminal participants of the January 6 insurrection who had been found guilty of violent crimes.”

The resolution passed with all 34 Democrats voting yes and 22 Republicans voting no. The resolution will be sent to Trump, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the secretary of the U.S. Senate and the clerk of the U.S. House. Republican Sen. Andrew Lang of Olivia said he was prohibited from voting on the resolution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

On Jan. 20, the day he began his second term in the White House, Trump issued a proclamation to commute the sentences of 14 individuals and pardon “all other individuals convicted of offenses” related to the Jan. 6 Capitol assault that Trump summoned as Congress met to certify President Joe Biden’s November 2020 election. Roughly 1,600 people were charged in the insurrection, and 1,300 of those were convicted.

Latz said during March 27 debate on the resolution that the pardons by Trump served as a “green light” for violent attacks on police officers, elected officials and “our democracy.” Some 140 law enforcement officers were injured on Jan. 6.

“I, of course, condemn what happened on Jan. 6,” Sen. Michael Kreun, R-Blaine, said on the floor Tuesday. “I think all reasonable people of good will condemn what happened on Jan. 6. And I don’t believe that everybody that participated in that should have been pardoned. But there’s a bigger discussion here.”

Kreun said he doesn’t believe the state Senate is the appropriate place to vote on “abuse of power” in Washington and that the chamber should focus on state-level issues, but that if the Senate is to discuss pardons, Trump’s shouldn’t be the only ones. Kruen said the Senate should also condemn Biden’s pardons, particularly those for his family members, whom he pardoned during his final hours in office.

“Remember the storming of the Capitol? That was un-American, that was anti-democracy, and I’m glad that we’ve reached that consensus,” Latz said on the floor Tuesday. “I also heard my GOP colleagues here today say that the pardon was not a good idea, President Trump’s pardon. They tried to broaden the conversation here and bring in all sorts of other Washington, D.C., conduct, but that’s not what this resolution talks about.”

Related Articles

Barbara McQuade: Nationwide injunctions are a problem. Ending them isn’t the answer

Melania Trump says courage is ‘based in love’ as she honors women from around the world for bravery

Trump administration halts dozens of research grants at Princeton University

More Republicans want the US to focus on ceasefires in Ukraine and Gaza, new poll finds

Trump turns homelessness response away from housing, toward forced treatment