President Donald Trump recently turned the tables, shutting down a liberal reporter pressing him on his sweeping January 6 pardons. On his first day in office, Trump granted pardons to over 1,500 people who were charged with crimes dating back to the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol protests. The reporter questioned Trump if he was going to grant clemency to any individuals accused of perpetrating violence on law enforcement officers.
“Mr. President, are you commuting the sentences of anyone who assaulted a police officer on January 6,” the journalist asked Trump. Flipping the script, Trump said, “Well, we’re looking at two police officers, actually, that Washington police officer who went after an illegal and things happened, and they ended up putting them in jail. They got five-year jail sentences, you know the case.”
The president continued, “We’re looking at that in order to give them a … we’ve got to give them a break.” Trump confirmed that he would pardon the officers in question. The reporter asked a follow-up question if there should be legal punishment for anyone who assaulted a police officer on January 6. Trump replied, “Well, I will say this, they’ve been in jail for a long time already.”
Pointing out the apparent decline in the justice system, Trump said, “I see murderers in this country get two years, one year, and maybe no time. So they’ve already been in jail for a long time. These people have been destroyed. What they’ve done to these people is outrageous. There’s rarely been anything like it in history, in the history of our country, and even people that were aggressive, and in many cases, I believe they happen to be outside agitators.”
Doubling down that there were parties with ulterior motives, he added, “But I think they were, I think they were outside agitated. They were outside agitators involved.” Building on this, he said, “And obviously the FBI was involved because Wray admitted the FBI was involved. Didn’t he say 23 people, indirectly or directly were involved, and it was in 26 that’s a lot of people. Now we have, we’re going to take care of these people have been treated so badly.”
Trump highlighted that were egregious acts of unrest and violence all throughout the country which received little to no attention compared to the January 6 protests. “What happened in Seattle, where they took over a big portion of the city? What happened in Portland, where they burned out the city every day and people die? Nothing happened to anybody, but they go after these people violently,” he said.
Trump continued, “I mean, they’re still going after brand new people. They found somebody else with a picture. There’s never been anything like this. And, you know, it’s almost 100% think of this, almost 100% of the people are convicted. 100% it’s Washington, DC. People go into a trial and they say, Oh, I have a wonderful lawyer, and I didn’t do anything wrong. And they end up in shackles, almost immediately and jail. Now I can let it happen.”
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