Former President Donald Trump said during a Texas rally that he might pardon some of the people who participated in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots if he is re-elected. He hasn’t yet announced that he is running for President in 2024, but he has hosted two rallies so far in 2022.
Trump Said: ‘If It Requires Pardons, We Will Give Them Pardons’
During a rally in Conroe, Texas, — just outside of Houston — on January 29, Trump said that he would consider pardoning people who were part of the Capitol riots if they are being prosecuted. You can watch the video of that moment below.
Trump says if he’s re-elected, he may pardon people prosecuted for their actions on January 6th
Trump told the crowd during his speech,
So many people have been asking me about it. If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6 fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly. This hasn’t happened to all the other atrocities that took place recently. Nothing like this has happened. What that un-select committee is doing and what the people are doing that are running those prisons is a disgrace. It’s a disgrace.
Trump’s statements were met with cheers from the people attending the event.
On Twitter, quite a few people were quick to comment on Trump’s statement.
Tom Nichols of The Atlantic tweeted that he predicted Trump would say this. He wrote, “Me in my @TheAtlantic newsletter, a week ago: ‘I expect that if Trump is reelected, he will pardon everyone involved with January 6.'”
More Than 700 People Have Been Charged in the Capitol Riots
So far, 761 people have been charged in connection to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, Insider reported. The riots led to the Capitol going on lockdown and Congress evacuating and leaving the electoral college certification until they were able to reconvene later that night, NPR reported at the time.
In Congress, Democrats originally sought a bipartisan commission to investigate what happened on January 6, but the commission was blocked by Senate Republicans, Insider reported. In June, the House of Representatives voted to establish a commission with only two Republicans on the panel.
Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers, and 10 others were charged with seditious conspiracy on January 13, 2022.
Jacob Chansley, who went viral on January 6 and became known as the “QAnon Shaman,” was sentenced to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to obstructing a Congressional proceeding, AZ Family reported. He told AZ Family that his only regret was “not working to make sure there was far more peace on that day.”
His mother, Martha Chansley, told AZ Family that she believed her son “was invited to go to the Capitol by President (Donald) Trump. I feel really passionately about how wrong it is that he is even doing any time at all.”
Among the people charged include people arrested by the Capitol Police or the D.C. Metro Police for entering the Capitol, people arrested for weapons, people charged by federal prosecutors, and more, USA Today reported.
Trump could have pardoned the people involved in January 6 before he left office, AZ Central reported. Trump released a list of 74 people that he pardoned on January 20, 2021, NBC News reported. He commuted the sentences of an additional 70 people on that day.