President-elect Donald Trump told "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker that he plans to start pardoning those convicted of offenses on January 6, 2021 on his first day in office.
Host Kristen Welker said, “I asked the President-elect if he plans to follow through on his campaign promise to pardon those who attacked the Capitol on January 6, including the more than 900 people who pleaded guilty to a crime.”
Trump said, “I’m going to look at everything. We’ll look at individual cases. But I’m going to be acting very quickly.”
Welker said, “Within your first 100 days, first day?”
Trump said, “First day.”
According to the Justice Department, more than 1,488 defendants in all 50 states and D.C. have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol breach. 894 defendants have pled guilty, while another 186 who contested the charges have been found guilty.
Of those, 562 were sentenced to serve time in jail for their crimes, while the rest received probation or other sentences that didn't involved jail time.
But all those who pled guilty or were convicted will have a criminal record, which can be limiting when searching for jobs, housing, and other necessities of life.
They may also have their voting rights taken away.
Trump can right these wrongs if he pardons these individuals, many of which were charged with much more serious crimes than they needed to be.
Most of those in the Capitol that day were doing nothing more than simply trespassing, but were made out to be violent or dangerous by the media and Democrats.
Using terms like "insurrectionists" and even "rioters" has turned the whole thing into some sort of attempted coup, which it definitely was not. For most, it was more like a temper tantrum or a curiosity excursion than any kind of concerted attempt to stop electoral count voting or overtake the government.
Trump also reacted to the prison many of them were put in, which reportedly had or has terrible conditions.
"These people have been there. How long has it been? Three or four years, OK? By the way, they’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open," he told Welker.
