Former Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) appeared Thursday to criticize Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) for saying he will consider pardoning the Jan. 6 defendants if he is elected president, with the arguing that anyone with such plans is “unqualified” for the White House.
“Any candidate who says he will pardon the January 6 defendants is not qualified to be president,” Cheney said wrote on Twitter.
DeSantis, who launched his 2024 campaign on Wednesday, said Thursday he would consider pardoning defendants related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot “on day one” if he won the Oval Office.
“On day one, I’m going to have people get together and look at all this stuff, which people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we’re going to be aggressive in pardoning,” DeSantis said on podcast “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” when asked if he will consider pardoning the defendants, including Trump.
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Trump is currently facing a federal probe into the transfer of power in the 2020 election.
Cheney’s comments, which followed DeSantis’s comments earlier in the day, also touched the former president, as Trump has also said he would consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants if given another term.
The former Wyoming congressman sat on the January 6 House of Representatives selection committee which criminally referred Trump to the Justice Department for inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement to impose and obstruct an official proceeding.
The DOJ has said it has made more than 1,000 arrests in connection with January 6 and nearly 500 people have been convicted of criminal activity that day.
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