President-elect Donald Trump stated that he’s considering pardoning his supporters who were involved in the January 6th Capitol attack as soon as he takes office, claiming that those locked up are “living in hell.”
Trump made these remarks, his boldest since securing the election, during an exclusive interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press anchor, Kristen Welker. He also emphasized that he wouldn’t use the Justice Department to go after his political enemies, but made it clear that some members of the House committee who investigated the Capitol riot “should be going to jail.” Trump promised that on his first day in office, he’d bring legal relief to the January 6th rioters, claiming they’ve been subjected to a “very nasty system.”
“I’m going to be acting very quickly. First day,” Trump said, saying later about their imprisonment, “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 said there “may be some exceptions” to his pardons “if somebody was radical, crazy,” and pointed to some debunked claims that anti-Trump elements and law enforcement operatives infiltrated the crowd.
So far, over 1,572 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack, with more than 1,251 either convicted or pleading guilty. Out of that group, at least 645 have been sentenced to prison time, ranging from just a few days to as much as 22 years in federal lockup. Currently, about 250 are behind bars, most serving time after being convicted, while a small number are still in pretrial detention, held under a federal judge’s orders.
Trump didn’t shut down the idea of pardoning those who pleaded guilty, even when Welker pressed him about individuals who had admitted to assaulting police officers.
“Because they had no choice,” Trump said.
When asked about the more than 900 others who pleaded guilty but weren’t accused of assaulting officers, Trump argued that they’d been unfairly pressured into pleading guilty.
“I know the system. The system’s a very corrupt system,” Trump said. “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.”