Trump says he would pardon January 6 rioters 'if found innocent'
“They were convicted by very tough system,” says former president
August 01, 2024
Former US president Donald Trump has once again expressed willingness to pardon the January 6 perpetrators if he won the upcoming presidential election in November.
"Oh, absolutely, I would. If they're innocent, I would pardon them. They were convicted by a very tough system,” stated Trump at the National Association of Black Journalists.
The Capitol was swarmed by rioters on January 6, 2021, to prevent a joint session of Congress from counting the electoral college votes that were in favour of Joe Biden and the protesters wanted to keep Trump in power.
The tumult caused injury to more than 140 police officers who tried to contain the rioters.
When asked about pardoning the rioters, Trump asked what would happen to the people who attacked the Capitol last week — falsely referring to peaceful protests when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Congress.
However, the police had kept the demonstration from escalating.
“They viciously attacked our government, they fought with police, they fought with them much more openly than I saw on January 6,” Trump stated.
Rachel Scott of ABC News asked Trump again if he to be elected, would he pardon the January 6 rioters, the former president didn’t answer instead he brought up the officer who shot and killed a demonstrator.
Ashli Babbitt was a rioter at the January 6 events and she was shot and killed by a black officer as she jumped through a broken window leading to the House Speaker’s Lobby while Congress members were fleeing the mob as they were trying to break into the House chamber.
Trump further added that the authorities went after the January 6 protestors with a vengeance.
Trump has been advocating for the 600 convicted rioters of the January 6 events and in 2023, at a town hall hosted by CNN at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, he stated that he was “inclined to pardon many of them.”
