President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to pardon supporters of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, on his first day in office, saying those imprisoned are “living in hell”.
Trump made his most extensive comments since winning the election in an exclusive interview with NBC News' “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker. He also said he would not seek to turn the Justice Department against his political enemies and warned that some members of the House of Representatives investigating the Jan. 6 attack “should go to jail.”
On his first day in office, Trump said he would provide legal aid to the Jan. 6 riots, which he said were the result of a “very nasty system.”
“I'm going to act very quickly. On day one,” Trump later said of their incarceration, “they've been in there for years, and they're in a filthy, disgusting place that they shouldn't even be allowed to open.”
Trump said there “may be some exceptions” to his pardon, “if somebody's a radical, crazy,” and pointed to some denied claims that anti-Trump elements and law enforcement officers infiltrated the crowd.
At least 1,572 defendants have been charged and more than 1,251 have been convicted or pleaded guilty to the attack. Of those, at least 645 have been sentenced to between a few days and 22 years in federal custody are carried after conviction. Several are being held in pretrial detention by order of a federal judge.
Trump did not rule out pardoning people who pleaded guilty, even when Welker asked him about those who admitted to assaulting police officers.
“Because they had no choice,” Trump said.
Responding to more than 900 other people who pleaded guilty in connection with the attack but were not charged with assaulting the officers, Trump suggested they were unfairly pressured to plead guilty.
“I know the system. The system is a very corrupt system,” Trump said. “They tell a guy, 'You're going to jail for two years or 30 years.' And these guys are watching, their whole lives are ruined.” They have been destroyed for two years. But the system is a very nasty system.”
Allegations ranged from unlawful parading to riotous conspiracy in a wide-ranging investigation that included rioting, videotaped assaults on officers and those who admitted under oath that they had done so. Proud Boys' and 'Oath Keepers' convicted of seditious conspiracy, January 6 defendant, who was recently convicted of killing FBI special agents who were investigating him, another who is accused of shooting into the air during the attack, and another arrested. outside former President Barack Obama's home after Trump posted a screenshot that included the address.
Trump said he would not direct Pam Bondi, whom he said he would nominate for attorney general, to investigate special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two separate federal cases against Trump that were ultimately dropped after the election. Trump called Smith ” crazy” and said he thought he was “very corrupt.” Ultimately, he said he would drop those decisions Bondi, and he said he would not direct him to prosecute Smith.
“I want him to do what he wants,” Trump said. “I'm not going to tell him to do it.”
Trump claimed that members of the January 6 House Committee “lied” and “destroyed an entire year and a half of testimony.”
He singled out Republican Liz Cheney, D-Wyoming, a fierce Trump critic who has resigned from Congress, and Democrat Benny Thompson, D-Mississippi, who chaired the panel, saying they destroyed evidence gathered during their investigation and that “those people are making a big mistake.” act a crime.”
Cheney said in a statement released Sunday that Trump “lied about the January 6 Select Committee” when he said members of the committee “should go to jail.”
“There is no presumptively adequate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is proposing, a Justice Department investigation into the work of a congressional committee, and any lawyer who tries to follow that path will quickly find himself in punishable conduct,” Cheney added. .
Cheney called for the release of the materials collected by Smith during his investigation, adding: “Ultimately, Congress must demand that all of this material be released so that all Americans can see Donald Trump for who he really is and fully understand his role in this terrible time.” in the history of our people”.
The committee preserved tapes and videos of more than 1,000 witness interviews and posted them online. Some interviews, which included private and sensitive information, were sent to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for review to ensure certain information was not improperly released. Those records remain with the agency, and the White House and a separate House committee continue to have access.
“Frankly, they should go to jail,” Trump said of the committee members, insisting he would not direct his appointees to arrest them.
Trump's view on DOJ, FBI
The interview offers an in-depth look at Trump's thoughts on the Justice Department and the FBI.
Trump, who faced four separate criminal charges and became the first former president to be found guilty of a crime after a New York jury convicted him of 34 counts in the embezzlement of Stormy Daniels, expressed deep dismay at the justice system. but claimed that he was looking forward to it.
“I don't want to go back to the past,” he said when asked if he would follow outgoing President Joe Biden. “I'm looking to make our country successful.”
While Trump has previously said he would appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden, he said he did not plan to do so “unless I find something that I think is reasonable” and that any such move “would be Pam Bondi's decision and. to a different extent, Kash Patel, his choice for FBI director.
FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Republican appointed by Trump to his first term after firing James Comey, had to resign or be fired for Patel to take his place.Under post-Watergate reforms, FBI directors have 10-year terms , though only one FBI director, Robert Mueller, who eventually served 12 years and became Special counsel investigating Trump's 2016 election campaign and Russian interference in that election. so long
Trump said he was not “impressed” with Ray because he “broke into my house,” referring to a search of his Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida during Trump's classified documents investigation that turned up boxes of records, including several , which are stored in the bathroom.
“I'm suing the country for this. He invaded Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said. “I'm very unhappy with the things he's done, and crime is at an all-time high.” (Law enforcement figures show a “historic” drop in crime.) Trump indicated that Wray would be fired if he did not resign. :
Responding to a list of 60 members Patel said in his book are members of the so-called deep state, Trump said Patel would “do what he thinks is right” if he is confirmed, adding that he believes that Patel would have an “obligation” to investigate whether “anyone was a dishonest or crooked or corrupt politician.”
There are still more than 40 days until Trump takes office, and Justice Department prosecutors continue to bring cases against individual rioters, but the upcoming administration change has not gone unnoticed.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lambert, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, emphasized the importance of “truth and justice and law and order” before sentencing the defendant to a year in prison on Jan. 6. After the sentencing, Lambert ordered Phillip Grillo taken into custody.
“Trump is going to pardon me,” Grillo said as he took off his belt and surrendered.
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