During a campaign stop in Clinton, Iowa, on Saturday, January 6th, former President Donald Trump marked the third anniversary of January 6, 2021, by tearing into the prosecution of those arrested for their roles in the protest-turned-riot, declaring that the prisoners are “hostages” and need to be released by the Department of Justice and DC prison system.
The comments came as Trump campaigned in Iowa ahead of the state’s primary election on January 15, one that is generally a bellwether for how the primary will go. As of now, Trump has a substantial lead over all of his rivals, such as former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, both nationally and in Iowa.
Speaking about the plight of the prisoners, former President Trump said, “You know the other day, they ought to release the J six hostages. They’ve suffered. They have to release them. I call them hostages. Some people call them prisoners. I call them hostages.” Continuing, President Trump said, “Release the J6 hostages, Joe. Release ’em, Joe. You can do it real easy, Joe.”
Predictably, the Biden Administration didn’t like Trump’s calling the prisoners “hostages,” nor did it like his demand that they be released. Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre, speaking about the issue, said, “I mean, look, you heard — you heard from the President on Friday. He gave a — he gave a really important, critical speech on January 6th.”
Continuing, she said, “And I’ve said this, and the President has said this many times, right? What we saw on January 6th was an attack on our democracy. We saw — and not just us — the American people saw 2,000 insurrectionists, really, attack the Capitol. And we saw a confederate flag flying around in the Capitol. That’s what we saw. And not just that. We s- — police officers were injured. Some police officers lost their lives because of that event. And so, you heard you — heard that from — from the President.”
She then said, “As it relates to what you asked me about the hostages — look, I want to be careful. We follow the law. We don’t comment on 2024. We also don’t comment on DOJ investigations or legal processes. So — but, you know, I’ve seen American veterans note that — how grotesque and offensive to compare those convicted of assaulting cops and attempting to overthrow the American government that veterans — that veterans have died defending innocent Americans, like an Israeli — like in Israel and — and people of other nationalities who — who were abducted during Hamas atrocities on October 7th.”
Concluding her point on the issue, KJP then said, “So, it is — like I said, it is grotesque to make those type of comparison. And the President, you know, spoke very forcefully of how he saw January 6th and laid out there’s a choice that we have to make here. There’s a choice that we have to make — that the American people have to really decide.”
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Watch former President Trump speak about the J6 “hostages” here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video