Trump Floats Pardon of Jan. 6 Rioters

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WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has said he will consider pardoning people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol if he runs again for the 2024 election and wins, which has garnered criticism. from some Republicans and praise from even one GOP lawmaker.

At a rally in Texas on Saturday night, Mr. Trump said, “If I run and I win, we will deal fairly with those people from Jan. 6.” He added that “if it needs pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are not treated fairly.”

Mr. Trump was impeachable last year on charges of inciting an insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, but he was acquitted in the Senate, with 57 votes for conviction and 43 for acquittal. That lacks the two-thirds majority needed to convict him, which would allow for a subsequent, simple-majority vote to prevent him from holding office again.

Si Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Mr. Trump, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that “I don’t think … that President Trump should have promised to make pardons.” He said, “We should let the judicial process continue.”

‘I don’t think … that President Trump should have promised to make pardons,’ the Sen. said. Susan Collins (R., Maine). Photo: greg nash/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Sen. said. Lindsey Graham (R., SC), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that Mr. Trump’s remarks were “inappropriate.”

“I don’t want to stress that defecation in the Capitol is OK,” he said on Sunday’s CBS “Face the Nation”. “I don’t want to do anything that will make it more likely in the future.”

Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told CNN’s “State of the Union” that “the people who were part of the riots and the attack on the U.S. Capitol must be held accountable. There is a rule of law.” On whether they should be forgiven, he said, “Oh my goodness, no.”

The Justice Department has charged more than 725 people to date with the attack, in which Mr. Trump’s supporters overpowered police officers and flooded the Capitol, the seat of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Dozens have already been sentenced, mainly on misdemeanor convictions for unlawful entry into a restricted building or picketing that resulted in minimal jail time. Earlier this month, federal prosecutors charged 11 people with seditious conspiracy charges, carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

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Meanwhile, a House select committee is investigating the causes and circumstances of the attack. The panel said it wanted to understand “how the violent unrest that day was linked to a political and public relations strategy to reverse the election result.” Its chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.), Opened up the possibility of referring criminal misconduct to the Justice Department.

Trump supporters described the hundreds of people charged in the Jan. 6 riot as political prisoners and victims of state coercion rather than violators of the law.

Rep. Said. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) On Instagram “I’m glad to hear that President Trump said he will treat the defendants in J6 fairly and forgive them if necessary.”

He wrote that “America must have a fair justice system and we must protect due process.”

Write to Siobhan Hughes at [email protected]

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Appeared on Jan. 31, 2022, print edition as ‘Trump Floats Jan. 6 Pardons. ‘

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