Donald Trump again defended rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, this time on the stage of the national debate.
When President Joe Biden made a comment about how Trump wanted to “pardon” and commute the sentences of those convicted on January 6, Trump did not deny it. Instead, he sided with the rioters.
“What they did to some people who are so innocent — you should be ashamed, what you did, how you destroyed the lives of so many people,” he told Biden, presumably referring to federal charges against the Capitol. insurgents. He then started talking about calling in the National Guard for Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.
Trump’s remark was telling: It was yet another example of how he stood up for the Jan. 6 defendants, who sought to prevent the peaceful transition of power between presidents by dismissing Congress. The vast majority of the more than 1,400 defendants have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty at trial, according to an NPR count. Many are awaiting trial. Only three have been acquitted of all charges.
Trump has repeatedly said he supports the release of some or all of the Jan. 6 riot suspects. In January 2022, he said promised to treat the January 6 defendants “fairly,” and that “if a pardon is needed, we will pardon them.” The next monthhe said that “a lot” Jan. 6 defendants were “patriots, soldiers and police officers”, adding that he would be “absolutely willing” to pardon some of them. A few months later, he said He would be “watching them very, very seriously for a pardon,” and said the lives of the January 6 suspects were “totally destroyed and treated worse than terrorists and murderers.”
These are hardly the onlyexamples. Trump has called for the January 6 release “hostages‘ and ‘political prisoners’, and has done so played a song recorded by captured suspects from January 6 at campaign rallies. He promised in March of this year: “My first acts as your next president will be to close the border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL and free the January 6th hostages who are wrongfully imprisoned!”
Trump began his response to a question about Jan. 6 on Thursday by diverting. Asked by CNN host Jake Tapper whether he had violated his oath of office that day, Trump instead spoke generally about his administration’s record on the border, energy, taxes and other issues.
When asked by Tapper for a real answer, Trump said he had “virtually nothing to do.” [with Jan. 6]. They asked me to give a speech.”
This is ridiculously false. Trump spent weeks hyping the event and inviting his supporters to Washington, DC, tweeting, “Be there, it’ll be wild!” In the months leading up to January 6, advertised several noisy events in the city, praising his supporters who responded to his call. Multiple criminal January 6 defendants have said their actions were in response to Trump’s calls. In a speech before his supporters stormed the Capitol, Trump told them: “We’re fighting like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, then you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Also in his response Thursday, Trump claimed he offered then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) 10,000 troops for security on Jan. 6, and claimed Pelosi had admitted to turning them down. This is Ordinaryfalse.
