WATCH: JD Vance Told Fox News Just Last Week Violent Jan. 6th Rioters ‘Obviously’ Shouldn’t Be Pardoned
Following President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardon of almost 1,600 January 6th rioters, past statements from Trump and Vice President JD Vance are resurfacing in the media.
Trump’s Monday night pardon caught many by surprise as the president had suggested during the campaign he would focus on “nonviolent” offenders. Instead, though, he pardoned everyone tried and convicted of committing crimes during the Capitol riot, including those who assaulted police officers and the leaders who planned for wider violence and were convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States.
Speaking with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday in the middle of January, Vance was asked what the criteria for pardons would be.
“I think it’s very simple,” Vance replied to Bream. “If you protested peacefully on January the 6th and you’ve had [Attorney General] Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”
The Dispatch’s John McCormick shared some of Trump’s past statements on the topic as well to highlight evolution. He noted that on January 7, 2021, Trump said, “The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.”
NPR’s Tom Dreisbach reported on some of the immediate impacts of the pardons, including sentencings that have been canceled.
“Just spoke to former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was repeatedly assaulted on Jan. 6. He was set to attend the sentencing for a man convicted of assaulting him with PVC pipe. Now canceled. He’s getting notifications all day about other violent rioters getting out,” Dreisbach reported.
While most GOP members of Congress have shrugged off questions related to the pardons, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have condemned pardoning anyone who attacked cops. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), on the other hand, told CBS News, “Two wrongs can at least get us to a fresh start…the deck is cleared.”
Watch the clip above.
