Former President Trump’s promise to grant pardons to the protestors who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is being met with strong opposition from a handful of Senate Republicans.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of Trump’s supposed closest allies, told The Hill that granting pardons to Jan. 6 protesters is “a bad idea.”
“Pardons are given to people who admit misconduct, rehabilitate themselves. They’re not supposed to be used for other purposes,” he said.
Graham isn’t the only Senator turning his back on Donald Trump and his promise to grant pardons to those who protested at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Other Republican senators are joining Graham in criticizing Donald Trump
“I don’t think potential candidates should hold pardons out as a promise,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who is usually a reliable Trump ally. “It’s somewhat problematic for me on a moral level and an ethical level — sort of like promising other giveaways to particular individuals.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who voted last year to impeach Trump said pardoning people who invaded the Capitol to stop Biden’s election would be wrong.
“The Jan. 6 riot was an attack on the temple of democracy, and the people who violated the law, attacked our law enforcement and besmirched our nation’s Capitol should be prosecuted according to the law, and certainly should not be pardoned,” he said. “It’s a grossly inappropriate comment to make.”
Not every Republican congress member was quick to slam the idea of Trump promising pardons to those who protested the 2020 Presidential election.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is more open to the idea of granting leniency to pro-Trump protesters and was quick to defend the former President, suggesting politicians reserve comment until they find out who Trump decides to pardon.
“Let’s see which ones he would choose to do,” Hawley said of the prospect of Trump pardoning Jan. 6 protesters if he wins another term in the White House. “There’s no question it has been a massive prosecutorial effort.“
Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who both led objections to the Electoral College tally in January 2021, argue the Department of Justice (DOJ) is once again applying double standards to American’s judicial system, suggesting the DOJ is punishing Trump supporters who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 much more aggressively than the rioters who destroyed property at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020.
“I think that the folks who committed crimes, particularly violent crimes, on that day ought to be prosecuted,” Hawley said of the Jan. 6 protesters who have been sentenced to prison. “I think the question becomes, are there people who’ve been caught up in this drag net who, for instance, didn’t know that they were trespassing?“
“There’s a lot of concern about, frankly, the double standard at [the Department of Justice] going after people who may have at most trespassed on federal property and not even known they did it versus folks who have in [Black Lives Matter] riots committed violent crimes and not been prosecuted,” he added, referring to the failure to prosecute people who destroyed property at riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police.
“There absolutely is undeniably a double standard,” he said.
A study published by Time magazine in June found that 840 people had been charged with storming the Capitol on that day and that about a quarter of them have received criminal sentences, with a median prison sentence of 45 days.
Trump told conservative radio host Wendy Bell on Sept. 1 that he would issue full pardons and apologize to many of his supporters who were prosecuted for their actions on Jan. 6.
“I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” he said earlier this month.
