Former Trump supporter Pamela Hill refuses and returns her Jan. 6 pardon

Amid the wave of pardons and commutations President Trump has doled out to some of his supporters and surrogates, one former MAGA loyalist in Idaho is fighting to return her pardon.

Pamela Hemphill is one of the more than 1,500 people whom Mr. Trump pardoned earlier this year for their roles in the U.S. Capitol Insurrection. She has invoked help from her Republican senator to formally refuse and block the pardon Trump issued her on Jan. 20, his first day back in the White House.

Though Hemphill was a defendant of the largest criminal prosecution in American history, she is seemingly standing alone now as the only Jan. 6 defendant to refuse the clemency Mr. Trump offered.

Speaking with CBS News from her home in Idaho, Hemphill said, “The pardons just contribute to their narrative, which is all lies, propaganda. We were guilty, period.”

“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,” she said. “They were not, When the FBI came to my home, oh my God, they were very professional. They treated me very good.”

Hemphill pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for her role in the crowd on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Prosecutors argued Hemphill “was in the front of the crowd that confronted U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers attempting to keep the rioters behind the metal bike-rack barriers.”

They alleged Hemphill galvanized others to descend on Washington for the certification of the electoral vote after the 2020 election, according to court filings. 

“On December 28, 2020, Hemphill posted encouragement to go to Washington, D.C. for January 6, saying ‘its a WAR!’ On January 1, 2021, she posted a message ‘on my way to Washington DC January 6th,” the prosecution said.

Hemphill also pleaded guilty in January 2022 to a count of unlawful parading and was sentenced later that year to a term that included three years of probation.

Her case mirrors many other misdemeanor cases from the U.S. Capitol siege, in which members of the crowd were not accused of making physical contact with police or damaging any property. Hemphill was spared from serving prison time at sentencing, though prosecutors emphasized how each member of the mob contributed to the breakdown of police lines, the injuries and the damage to American democracy.

Hemphill told CBS News the pardons for her and fellow members of the crowd were inappropriate and damaging Americans’ views of the federal government. 

“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.

Former Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer, who was fired by the Trump administration in March after a disagreement over a case, told CBS News that Hemphill’s protest is a sharp contrast from the conduct of other Capitol riot defendants who championed their own pardons. 

“Some Jan. 6 defendants blew up our phones seeking a copy of their pardons. They wanted the copies quickly,” Oyer said. “They wanted it framed and signed.”

Court filings reviewed by CBS News show other Jan. 6 defendants have utilized their pardon certificates to make arguments in court about their cases, restitution payments or other legal matters.

In contrast, senate records obtained by CBS News show Hemphill sought assistance from Sen. James Risch to secure a formal acknowledgement from the Department of Justice that she will not accept her pardon.

In an April 2 correspondence from the Office of the Pardon Attorney to Sen. Risch, the pardon attorney’s office wrote, “Ms. Hemphill’s non-acceptance is noted.” The letter said the Justice Department would not issue Hemphill a formal certificate to chronicle her pardon.

In a statement to CBS News, a spokesperson for Risch said, “The Office of U.S. Senator Jim Risch regularly assists constituents with matters pertaining to federal agencies or programs. Due to privacy concerns, we cannot disclose details about individual cases.”

Hemphill has sparred on social media and in podcasts with other Jan. 6 defendants over her arguments about what she says is the whitewashing of the Capitol riot. In one segment on a podcast earlier this spring, Hemphill debated Enrique Tarrio, a former Proud Boys leader who was convicted at trial and received the longest prison sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant. Tarrio’s sentence was commuted by Trump. 

Hemphill told CBS News she expects her protest will garner the attention of the president.

“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.