Former President Donald Trump says “so many people” have been asking if he is considering pardoning January 6 rioters.
During a “Save America Rally” in Texas, Trump told his supporters, “If I run and I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly.”
He continued, “And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. This hasn’t happened to all of the other atrocities that took place recently. Nothing like this has happened. What that unselect committee is doing and what the people are doing that are running those prisons, it’s a disgrace.”
Check out his comments below:
Criminals stick together. Disgraced, twice impeached, one term, insurrectionist, ex-President Trump says if he’s elected President again, he will pardon the Jan 6 rioters. pic.twitter.com/KdBd3MZDb1
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) January 30, 2022
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reacted to Trump’s comments during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
When asked if he agreed with Trump’s remarks, Graham responded, “No, I don’t want to send any signal that it was OK to defile the Capitol.”
He added, “There are other groups with causes that may want to go down to the violent path that these people get pardoned.”
Calling it “inappropriate,” Graham explained, “I don’t want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future.”
The former president is not the only one to have said the rioters are being treated unfairly.
In November 2021, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) visited the accused rioters at the D.C. Department of Corrections, saying “they have felt forgotten and hopeless,” as IJR reported.
“Last night we toured the DC jail. My staff and I are writing a full report this morning on our 3+ hour long tour. I’ve never seen human suffering like I witnessed last night. While some were shown to us in seemingly beneficial programs, others were in tortuous lockdown,” Greene said.
She continued, “Some inmates were receiving continuing education classes, others were truly suffering from long stays in solitary confinement for ‘bad behavior.’ I’ll never forget hearing their screams. This was in a different part of the jail, not the J6 part. Being alone surely is hell.”
The New York Times reported earlier this month that at least seven people had died in connection with the riot.