Vice-President-elect JD Vance refused to commit that the Jan 6 rioters would be pardoned by Donald Trump the day he takes the administration over and said those who are convicted of violent crimes should not be pardoned. This is not what Donald Trump said as he promised sweeping pardons on day one of his administration for anyone involved in those riots. “Those people have suffered long and hard,” he said adding that there might be some exceptions but he would look at individual cases.
More than 1,250 people were convicted or pleaded guilty for their role in the Capitol riot, with charges ranging from trespassing to seditious conspiracy. Several rioters sought to attack top-elected officials, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence.
“I think it’s very simple,” Vance told Bream. “If you protested peacefully on January the 6th and you’ve had [Attorney General] Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”
“There’s a little bit of a gray area there, but we’re very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law, and there are a lot of people, we think, in the wake of January 6 who were prosecuted unfairly,” Vance said.
Some Republican lawmakers have urged Trump to issue pardons for all January 6 rioters. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a close Trump ally, told the Associated Press last week that those imprisoned over the attacks—regardless of their crime—should be released.
“Even the ones that fought Capitol Police, caused damage to the Capitol, I think they’ve served their time, and I think they should all be pardoned and released from prison,” Greene said.
