Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), one of Trump’s closest allies, told The Hill that pardoning Jan. 6 protesters is a “bad idea.”
“People who admit wrongdoing are pardoned, reinstated. They are not going to be used for other purposes,” he said. Other Republican senators criticized Trump’s promise to pardon the Jan. 6 protesters as out of line with Graham.
“I don’t think potential candidates should hold pardon as a promise,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (RN.D.), who is usually a reliable Trump ally. “It’s kind of problematic for me on a moral and ethical level – kind of like promising other gifts to certain people. “I prefer to avoid that kind of thing,” he said.
Sen. Mike Rounds (RS.D.) said he would not support granting clemency to people convicted of crimes because of their actions on Jan. 6.
“If elected, he would have the constitutional ability to do it,” he said of Trump’s pardon promise. “I would disagree with that. I think there was a riot and I think these people should be punished. “I was there. That was really violent. People were hurt, people were killed. I have very little mercy for the people who were involved in that activity that day,” Rounds added.
Republican Senator Whip John Thune (SD) said the people who committed crimes on January 6 must face the consequences of their actions.
“The only people who get pardons are people accused of crimes. If they were accused of crimes, they should be prosecuted like everyone else,” he said. “The rule of law applies. If people broke laws, they should be held accountable.”
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who voted last year to impeach Trump on charges of inciting insurrection on Jan. 6, said it would be wrong to pardon people who stormed the Capitol to stop Biden’s election .
“The January 6 riot was an attack on the temple of democracy and the people who broke the law, attacked our law enforcement and destroyed our nation’s Capitol should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and certainly should not be be pardoned,” he said. . “It’s a very inappropriate comment to make.”
Not all Republicans are quick to dismiss the idea of ​​a pardon. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) who raised his fist at protesters outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, before he and other members of Congress were evacuated during the riot, is more open to the idea of ​​granting clemency to pro – Trump protesters. “Let’s see which ones he would choose to do,” Hawley said of the prospect of Trump pardoning the Jan. 6 protesters if he wins another term in the White House. “There’s no question it was a tremendous prosecutorial effort.” He and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who both led opposition to the Electoral College count in January 2021, argue that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is punishing Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 much more aggressively than the rioters who destroyed property at the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. “I think the people who committed crimes, particularly violent crimes, that day should be prosecuted,” Hawley said of the Jan. 6 protesters who were sentenced to prison. “I think the question is, are there people who are caught in this dragnet who, for example, didn’t know they were trespassing?”
“There’s a lot of concern about, frankly, double standards in [the Department of Justice] goes after people who may at most have trespassed on federal property and didn’t even know they were doing it relative to people who have [Black Lives Matter] rioters committed violent crimes and were not prosecuted,” he added, referring to the failure to prosecute people who destroyed property in riots following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.
“There is definitely a double standard,” he said.
Hawley said the Justice Department has filed cases seeking leniency for Black Lives Matter protesters who damaged property or caused injuries because their actions were motivated by a desire for social justice, while federal prosecutors have sought maximum sentences for Trump supporters who entered the Capitol in the last year. year.
Federal prosecutors, for example, sought an 18-month prison sentence for Richard Michetti, who was arrested after his ex-girlfriend turned him in to law enforcement.
Michetti was charged with aiding and abetting an official proceeding after entering and remaining in the Capitol for 45 minutes on Jan. 6, where he yelled obscenities at officers. He was sentenced last week to 24 months of supervised release and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. A study published by Time magazine in June found that 840 people had been charged with storming the Capitol that day, and that about a quarter of them had received criminal sentences, with an average jail term of 45 days.
Trump told conservative radio host Wendy Bell on Sept. 1 that he would grant a full pardon and apologize to many of his supporters who were prosecuted for their actions on Jan. 6.
“I mean a full apology by an apology to many,” he said earlier this month.
Cruz said there is a big difference between the protesters who attacked Capitol police officers and smashed Capitol windows and doors and the Trump supporters who showed up at the Capitol to voice their opposition to the confirmation of Biden as president.
“I think there is a big difference between acts of violence and peaceful protest. Acts of violence are unacceptable from any political point of view. Peaceful protest is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution,” Cruz said when asked about Trump’s promise to pardon many of the Jan. 6 protesters.
“The Biden Justice Department used January 6 and the violent acts of a few to justify the prosecution of the peaceful protest and political speech of many,” he said. “It’s terribly inconsistent.
“The Department of Justice turns a blind eye to violent rioters who have looted, destroyed and bombed American cities across the country, but is willing to target anyone who dares to speak out across the aisle,” he said, citing Biden’s recent speech in Philadelphia. , where he accused Trump and his allies of promoting a form of political extremism that “threatens the very foundations of our democracy.”
“This past week it got so bad that Joe Biden, bathed in red light, decided that half the nation is fascist for daring to disagree with his socialist policies,” Cruz said. “What the Justice Department is doing, targeting political enemies of the White House, is corrupt and incredibly harmful.”
Asked if the people who illegally entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 should be pardoned if they didn’t assault officers or destroy property, Cruz would only say that “acts of violence are qualitatively different.”
A study of court records by The Associated Press found that federal prosecutors have filed more than 300 cases related to the protests that have swept America after Floyd’s death.
The Hill’s Morning Report — Spending bill, Jan. 6 hearings highlight House comeback This week: Senate to move on marriage equality, House reconvenes It also found that more than 120 defendants have pleaded guilty to crimes such as rioting and arson, and that more than 70 have been convicted, with an average sentence of 27 months in prison.
Graham, one of Trump’s staunchest allies in the Senate, said pardoning people who tried to intimidate and prevent lawmakers from doing their jobs would set a bad precedent.
“It amplifies the violence. The people who desecrated the Capitol and took the law into their own hands deserve to be brought to justice,” he said.