Trump Promises ‘Major Pardons’ For Political Prisoners
President-elect Donald Trump has officially confirmed that he would be signing some “major pardons” for political prisoners convicted over the Capitol protests on January 6, 2021.
Nearly 1,000 Americans have been sentenced as the result of the January 6 Capitol protests, the majority of whom were nonviolent offenders. Despite this fact — and the fact that many radical leftist protesters who have committed much worse crimes have not been arrested or sentenced for their crimes — the Biden administration has aggressively prosecuted anyone who even showed up to the Capitol that day and stood peacefully outside.
Trump’s supporters and allies have aggressively advocated for clemency for these political prisoners, especially those who are still being held in jail without trial.
During a Tuesday press conference, Trump was asked by a reporter about his plans for the January 6 defendants.
“You said on your first day of office you were going to pardon Jan. 6 defendants. Are you planning to pardon those who were charged with violent offenses?” the reporter asked Trump.
“Well, we’re looking at it, and we have other people in there,” the incoming president responded, adding that there were individuals who did “some bad things weren’t prosecuted, and people that didn’t even walk into the building are in jail right now. So, we’ll be looking at the whole thing. But I’ll be making major pardons, yes.”
Trump has previously hinted at pardons for January 6 defendants, specifically stating that he planned to pardon people convicted for the protest on a “case-by-case” basis during an interview with Time Magazine in late 2024.
“I’m going to do case-by-case, and if they were non-violent, I think they’ve been greatly punished,” he said at the time.
During the Tuesday press conference, Trump also highlighted the murder of veteran Ashli Babbitt by disgraced Capitol Police officer Michael Byrd.
“The only one that was killed was a beautiful young lady named Ashli Babbitt,” Trump said, arguing that Babbitt “should have never been shot.”
“In fact, they say that she was trying to hold back the crowd, and the crowd was made up of a lot of different people, so we’ll see,” Trump explained.
Posts
