Donald Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6
(Samuel Corum/Getty)

Reformed ‘MAGA Granny’ refuses Jan. 6 pardon from Donald Trump

One of the Jan. 6 defendants managed to get herself out of the Trump “cult”—her words—and seek to redeem herself for her actions. Now, she’s refused a pardon from the president.

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Pam Hemphill of South Carolina pleaded guilty in 2022 to charges of demonstrating, picketing or parading in a Capitol building, and was sentenced now 60 days in prison with 36 months of probation. She feels the sentence was fair and her crime was inexcusable. Back in 2021, she was seemingly a totally different person, attending the Capitol riot with other “Stop the Steal” insurrectionists and telling them “this is your house” even as violent chaos erupted around her. Like many of her fellow rioters, she filmed herself, and the footage resulted in her being given the nickname “MAGA Granny.”

But Hemphill doesn’t want to be a MAGA Granny anymore. “Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation,” she told the BBC on December 22, after Trump had issued pardons for over 1,500 people involved in the attempted coup, including the infamous “QAnon Shaman”. Trump has previously called Jan 6 “A day of love,” but nothing could be further from the truth.

Five people died on Jan 6, three of natural causes, one of a drug overdose, and one, Ashli Babbitt, from being shot by the Capitol police. Four police officers who had been present also later died from suicide. The footage of the incident shows scenes of horrific violence—and the elderly Hemphill had voluntarily put herself in the middle of all that. She regrets it tremendously.

“You don’t see it as a cult when you’re in it,” she told the Daily Beast in a 2023 interview. “You don’t recognize it.” It took an intervention from her family, as well as her prison sentence, to get her to see the light. She remembered to the Daily Beast what her family said: “Pam, you’re in a cult. You really need to get out of that… We really care about you, but this is a cult. You’re trapped in a cult.” Finally, she began to break out of it.

“I started seeing the narcissistic behavior.” she remembered “And I said, ‘Wait, wait, this is gaslighting. This is not true.'”

Hemphill has even called out Donald Trump himself. In June 2023 he referred to her imprisonment as “horrible,” spurring her on to respond, “Please @realDonaldTrump don’t be using me for anything, I’m not a victim of Jan.6, I pleaded guilty because I was guilty! #StopTheSpin” Hemphill has had a long journey to refusing the pardon. She is proof that people can break out of MAGAism if they really want to—now, if only more of them would.


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Sarah Barrett
Sarah Barrett (she/her) is a freelance writer with The Mary Sue who has been working in journalism since 2014. She loves to write about movies, even the bad ones. (Especially the bad ones.) The Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and the Star Wars prequels changed her life in many interesting ways. She lives in one of the very, very few good parts of England.