Former President Donald Trump said, during his Wednesday night CNN town hall event, that he would likely pardon a “large portion” of those serving prison sentences for their participation in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol trespass incident if elected president.
That comment came when Wayne Beyer, a retired attorney from New Hampshire, asked Trump, “Will you pardon, then, January 6 rioters who were convicted of federal offenses?”
Trump, in response, said that he would consider pardoning almost all of them, pointing out that Antifa hasn’t been held accountable for its crimes and rioting and saying that most of the January 6th protesters are good people. In his words:
“I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control.
“But, you know, when you look at Antifa, what they’ve done to Portland, and if you look at Antifa, look at what they’ve done to Minneapolis and so many other – so many other places, look at what they did to Seattle. And BLM – BLM, many people were killed.
“These people – I’m not trying to justify anything, but you have two standards of justice in this country, and what they’ve done – and I love that question because what they’ve done to see many people is nothing – nothing. And then what they’ve done to these people, they’ve persecuted these people.
“And yeah, my answer is I am most likely – if I get in, I will most likely – I would say it will be a large portion of them. You know, they did a very –
“And it’ll be very early on. And they’re living in hell right now.”
The then added, after the moderator tried to interject, “They’re living in hell, and they’re policemen, and they’re firemen, and they’re soldiers, and they’re carpenters and electricians and they’re great people. Many of them are just great people.“
Collins, the moderator, then asked if he would pardon the Proud Boys, asking, “Mr. President, one of the people who was convicted was a former policeman but he was convicted of attacking a police officer, I should note. But when you said you are considering pardoning a large portion of those charged with crimes on January 6th, does that include the four Proud Boys members who were charged and convicted of seditious conspiracy?“
Trump, in response, said, “I don’t know. I’ll have to look at their case, but I will say in Washington, D.C., you cannot get a fair trial, you cannot. Just like in New York City, you can’t get a fair trial either.“
Trump’s remarks in the CNN town hall caused Never Trumper Rick Wilson to freak out. Wilson, after the town hall, said:
“We’re in a break now from the Presidential town hall with CNN, Caitlin Collins, and whatever the fuck they thought they were going to get out of this. They instead have set a match to democracy once again, you are letting an insane person stand there and make people giggle and laugh when he jokes about rape. You make people giggle and laugh when he jokes about abortion when he calls an African American police officer a thug.
“This insanity should be pulled off the fucking air. Chris Licht you should be ashamed of yourself. This is astoundingly bad for the brand of CNN. It’s astoundingly bad for the country, and it’s astoundingly bad honestly, folks, for every other Republican candidate in the primaries, wrap that shit up. It’s done. You saw this tonight, you know you can’t beat him on the stage. Everybody else orders up time to go to work because he’s going to be the nominee. This shit is on fucking believable. I’ve never seen anything like it. It is a disaster of the highest fucking degree.”
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