Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended President Trump’s sweeping pardons of those that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, together with quite a few individuals who violently attacked law enforcement officials.
“The president’s made his decision. I don’t second-guess those,” Johnson mentioned at a press convention Wednesday.
“It’s kind of my ethos, my worldview: We believe in redemption. We believe in second chances,” Johnson added. “You could argue that those people didn’t pay that heavy penalty, having been incarcerated and all of that. That’s up to you. But the president’s made a decision. We move forward. There are better days ahead of us.”
Trump, within the first hours of his presidency, granted a full and unconditional pardon to the majority of those that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an try and cease the certification of electors for former President Biden as Trump denied the outcomes of the 2020 election.
About 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants received full pardons, and Trump commuted the sentences of 14 members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who plotted to cease the switch of energy.
Full pardons, although, have been granted to former Proud Boys nationwide Chair Enrique Tarrio, who received the longest sentence in reference to the assault; David Dempsey, who used flagpoles and pepper spray to battle law enforcement officials; and Julian Khater, who had pepper sprayed officers together with Brian Sicknick, who went on to die a day after the riot.
Johnson didn’t immediately reply a query about what Trump’s pardons say about Republican assertions that they “back the blue.”
“Everybody can describe this however they want. The president has the pardon and commutation authority. It’s his decision,” Johnson mentioned Wednesday.
“What was made clear all along is that peaceful protests and people who engage in that should never be punished. It was a weaponization of the Justice Department. There was a weaponization of the events following, you know, the prosecution that happened after Jan. 6,” Johnson mentioned. “It was a terrible time and a terrible chapter in America’s history.”
The day earlier than Trump’s pardons, Johnson had signaled he didn’t anticipate those that have been violent on Jan. 6 to get pardons.
“I think what the president said and Vice President-elect JD Vance has said is that peaceful protesters should be pardoned, but violent criminals should not. That’s a simple determination,” Johnson mentioned Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s up to the president on that. But there’s been a lot of talk about it. But we’ll see what happens.”
