Rep. Robert Garcia Claims Trump ‘Is Building Himself A Private Army’ By Pardoning Jan. 6th Rioters: ‘It’s Really Dangerous’

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) claimed President Donald Trump “is building himself a private army” by pardoning January 6th rioters.

Following his inauguration, Trump immediately pardoned nearly 1,500 rioters including those who engaged in violence with law enforcement. Democratic leaders and lawmakers have condemned the pardons.

During a Saturday evening interview on MSNBC with anchor Ayman Mohyeldin, Garcia claimed that Trump pardoned the rioters to signal he is willing “to protect them” if  they “do whatever it is that Donald Trump says.”

MOHYELDIN: Almost every single field office in this country had an active case or was participating in that investigation. But to the second point, if these employees are in fact, fired, what danger does that pose for our national security in the immediate short term?

GARCIA: A huge danger. Ayman, I think, you know this we had a group of militia of insurrectionists trying to overthrow the government. Let’s not forget what actually happened. They attacked our United States Capitol. They attacked police officers. They tried to change a election that was won fair and square. And they were sent to do so by Donald Trump. Now, he wants to essentially silence and punish anyone that was involved in holding these people accountable. And I think the other piece of this that people aren’t talking about is what Donald Trump is also doing is he is signaling to all of these folks across the country very dangerous people, by the way, that now have been pardoned. And there are other militia groups that he is going to protect them. He is building himself a private army and militia of people across the country that are willing to do whatever it is that Donald Trump says. And I think we’ve got to take this very seriously and know that what he is doing is damaging and harming our national security infrastructure while building his own and supporting those militia, those white nationalist groups that are supporting him across the country. It’s really dangerous.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.