Reporter Confronts Trump for Releasing Cop-Beater From Prison: ‘Why Does He Deserve a Pardon?’

President Donald Trump dodged a question about why he pardoned a violent criminal who assaulted a Capitol Police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.

On Tuesday, Trump held a press conference about AI infrastructure and took questions. The day before, he pardoned some 1,500 people who were convicted or charged in connection with the Capitol riot – including those who assaulted law enforcement officials. At the presser, Peter Alexander of NBC News asked about D.J. Rodriguez, who was sentenced to 12 and half years for assaulting Officer Michael Fanone.

“You would agree that it’s never acceptable to assault a police officer?” Alexander began.

“Sure,” Trump replied.

“So, then if I can, among those you pardoned, D.J. Rodriguez, he drove a stun gun into the neck of a D.C. police officer who was abducted by the mob that day,” the reporter noted. “He later confessed on video to the FBI and pleaded guilty for his crimes. Why does he deserve a pardon?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Trump replied. “Was it a pardon? Because we’re looking at commutes and we’re looking at pardons.”

Alexander clarified that Trump hadn’t commuted Rodriguez’s sentence, but pardoned him outright. Trump responded by saying, “We’ll take a look at everything.” However, someone who is pardoned cannot be un-pardoned. The president went on to falsely claim that murderers in large cities are not charged. He also falsely claimed “nobody” went to jail over the riots of 2020 during his first term:

We’ll take a look at everything. But I can say this, murderers today are not even charged. You have murders that aren’t charged, all over. You take a look at what’s gone on in Philadelphia, take a look at what’s gone off in L.A., where people murder people and don’t get charged. These people have already served years in prison, and they’ve served them viciously. It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible, it’s inhumane, it’s been a terrible, terrible thing.

I also say this. You go to Portland, where they wrapped police officers, shot police officers. Nothing happened to anybody. You go to Seattle where they took over a big chunk of the city and people died. Portland, a lot of people died… And you go also, take a look at Minneapolis because I was there and I watched it. If I didn’t bring in the National Guard, that city wouldn’t even exist today. People were killed and nobody went to jail.

So, these people have always served a long period of time and I made a decision to give a pardon. Joe Biden gave a pardon yesterday to a lot of criminals. These are criminals that he gave a pardon to. And you should be asking that question. Why did he give a pardon to all of these people that committed crimes? Why did he give a pardon to the J6 unselect committee when they burned and destroyed all documents, which showed that they did what was wrong, not me?… Why did they get a pardon to all of his relatives? His brother, who made millions of dollars. All these different people. He gave pardons. That’s the question you should be answering.

Watch above via Fox News.