Trump defended his decision to pardon the January 6 rioters
Trump defends his decision to pardon January 6 rioters in a rebuttal to the taming of his pardons
Trump’s pardons outraged Democrats in Congress — as well as Capitol Police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6. But it also garnered rare criticism from several Republicans in the Senate.
He ordered a pardon for the former chairman of the Proud Boys, an commutation for the former leader of the Oath Keepers, and also a pardon for someone else who was convicted for a rarely used charge.
Trump sought to sidestep criticism about the pardons, saying that his supporters were prosecuted and sent to prison even though “you have murderers who aren’t charged all over.”
Murderers don’t have time. You see some of the district attorneys. They go after political opponents, but they don’t go after people that shoot people in the street,” Trump said.
The threat of politically motivated prosecutions was one of the reasons why the pardons were necessary, prior to Biden’s leaving office.
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“If they had made the choice to assault the police officer, I don’t think they’d be in Congress anymore.” said Sen. Tillis. I think it was a bad idea.”
“I do not support pardons given to people who engaged in violence on Jan. 6, including assaulting police officers, or breaking windows to get into the Capitol, for example.”
Meanwhile, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski said she was “disappointed” by the decision, adding, “I do fear the message that is sent to these brave men and women that stood by us.”
“I think it’s horrifying,” Elmore said. This country is supposed to represent everything that is against it. It’s against the law. Those people were found guilty of their crimes.”
If the rioters were ordered to do something and they did not follow the instructions from the police, they should be serving their time. I think it’s a slap in the face of the law establishment. … Everyone else has to serve time. They should also.”
On Monday night, when he issued a pardon, he referred to the January investigations and prosecutions as a “national injustice”.
In an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll conducted earlier this month, before Trump took office, roughly six out of 10 Americans disapproved of Trump pardoning people involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection — a violent attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 election.
Mauro told NPR on Tuesday that he knows people who attended rallies in Washington on the day of the insurrection and voted for Trump. He doesn’t think people should be locked up.
He said it was difficult to reconcile that. There’s going to be people upset about the Jan. 6 people. I can understand it. I have no issue with them if they did not physically accost the police officer.
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Mary Ann Perruzzi, a Republican voter in Massachusetts, said she thinks Democrats are to blame for what happened at the Capitol, citing conspiracy theories she read on social media.
When asked about the violence against law enforcement that day, Perruzzi denied any Trump supporters were responsible — despite public information linking many of the assailants to right-wing groups.
Deborah Elmore is an independent voter who voted for Trump in 2016 but has since become critical of him and the GOP. She said she doesn’t understand why so many people are in favor of Trump.
She felt “sickened” by the images of the police being “scorned” in the door of the Capitol and people using the American flag to beat other people.
Brown had a lot of jobs throughout his life. One of the jobs was a policeman in Washington, D.C. Many of the individuals Trump pardoned were convicted of violence against police. And Brown said letting them free amounts to an “abuse of power” and a “miscarriage of justice.”
He voted for Trump because of his immigration issues, but felt he did not know enough about Harris, the former Vice President.