In some of the most direct comments on the matter yet, President-elect Donald Trump said issuing pardons for January 6th political prisoners will be a day one priority when he assumes the Oval Office in six weeks.
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Trump addressed the topic in an interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. The incoming president had promised on the campaign trail to take action on the matter.
“I’m going to be acting very quickly. First day,” he said of his plans. “They’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”
Trump, having been a victim of a corrupt Justice Department himself, notes how the system was geared against the January 6th protesters in every way. He even suggests those who confessed to assaulting police officers were forced into their pleas.
“Because they had no choice,” he said.
“I know the system. The system’s a very corrupt system,” Trump told Welker. “They say to a guy, ‘You’re going to go to jail for two years or for 30 years.’ And these guys are looking, their whole lives have been destroyed. For two years, they’ve been destroyed. But the system is a very nasty system.”
🚨 JUST IN: Trump to pardon all J6ers on his first day as President. pic.twitter.com/4XwjYeh5p8
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) December 8, 2024
President-elect Trump also took significant shots at the sham committee that investigated the January 6th incident at the Capitol, saying members “lied” and “destroyed a whole year and a half worth of testimony.”
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Committee on House Administration, earlier this year accused the committee of failing to preserve a significant number of documents — roughly 1.5-2 terabytes worth.
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The committee hired a digital forensics team, which determined that the J6 panel had deleted more than 100 encrypted files days before the GOP took the majority in the House following the 2022 midterms.
The January 6th committee, which had been chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), also pushed a debunked conspiracy theory regarding a GOP lawmaker allegedly conducting a “reconnaissance tour” prior to the riot and successfully doctored text message evidence.
Trump addressed Thompson and former Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) role in pushing a false narrative about the riot and added, “Those people committed a major crime.”
An actionable crime?
“Honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said, though he stated he would not influence his Justice Department or nominee for Attorney General Pam Bondi to take any specific actions.
These new comments come just days after President Joe Biden issued a pardon to his son, Hunter, a move that prompted Trump to suggest the January 6th prisoners should receive their own.
Hunter Biden’s Pardon Most Sweeping Since Nixon, Comes Just 24 Hours After Kash Patel’s Nomination
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” he asked. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”
Trump has voiced consistent sympathy for many of those who were punished severely for what he considers lesser actions during the Capitol protest.
And he vowed to issue pardons to many of the individuals charged and convicted for their activities that day.
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President Trump delivers special message to January 6th defendants. pic.twitter.com/nNYNrxTupm
— I’m No Angel (@HappyCamper2626) December 2, 2022
“People have been treated unconstitutionally, in my opinion, and very, very unfairly, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” said Trump, speaking previously before a group known as Patriot Freedom Project. “It’s the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and we can’t let this happen in this country.”
RedState columnist Brittany Sheehan, like Trump, argued that pardons for these prisoners must extend beyond those who walked through open doors and into the Capitol.
OPINION: Why All the January 6 Defendants Deserve a Pardon
“Looking back at the prosecutions, the politically charged atmosphere surrounding them, and the legal challenges that have since emerged, one thing becomes obvious: All of the January 6 defendants deserve a pardon,” Sheehan wrote.
Trump, by admitting some of the more aggressive individuals in the crowd “had no choice,” seemingly concurs, though he tells Welker there “may be some exceptions” to his pardons “if somebody was radical, crazy.”
He added that those still imprisoned over the events of that day are “living in hell.”
