By Kolawole Ojebisi
US President-elect, Donald Trump has vowed to pardon individuals jailed for their involvement in the January 6 Capitol riot on his first day in office.
Trump said this while featuring in his first network TV interview since he emerged victorious at the presidential poll in November.
Speaking during a no-holds-barred interview with NBC the president-elect berated the jail conditions meted out to Capitol rioters.
The interview covered several key campaign promises, including those on immigration, healthcare, and his vision for the Justice Department.
“First day. Yeah, I’m looking for these pardons,” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press.
Trump,while criticizing the jail conditions, suggested that many who pleaded guilty had done so under duress.
“Look. I know the system. The system’s very corrupt. They say to a guy, ‘You’re going to go to jail for two years or for 30 years.’ And these guys are looking, their whole lives have been destroyed.
“I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases,” he said.
The Department of Justice reports that over 1,500 people have been arrested or charged in connection with the January 6th events, with nearly 900 having pleaded guilty.
Trump had long emphasised freeing those jailed for their role in the Capitol riot, a theme central to his campaign, often highlighting them at rallies.
In addition to his pledge to pardon rioters, Trump also shared varying views on the roles of his prospective picks for Attorney General and FBI Director, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, should they be confirmed.Trump was asked about retribution, a recurring theme in his 2024 campaign, and he stated that while he would not direct them to target political adversaries, they could choose to do so on their own.
“She’s very experienced. I want her to do what she wants to do. I’m not going to instruct her” to go after Special Counsel Jack Smith, whom he called “a very corrupt” person,” Trump said of Bondi.
On Patel, Trump remarked, “If they think that somebody was a dishonest or crooked or corrupt politician, I think he probably has an obligation to do it.”
Patel has previously called for investigations into Democrats, media figures, and the Department of Justice, including President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. While Trump made it clear he wouldn’t directly instruct Bondi or Patel to take action, he emphasized that they would have the freedom to act at their discretion.
Trump also sharply criticised the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 events, calling for its members to be jailed. “Liz Cheney was behind it. So is Benny Thompson and everybody on that committee, honestly, they should go to jail.”
When asked whether he would instruct Bondi to pursue charges against the committee members, Trump distanced himself from the decision: “I think that they’ll have to look at that. But I’m not going to. I’m going to focus on ‘Drill, baby, drill.’”
Meanwhile, in response to Trump’s remarks, former Representative Liz Cheney labeled them a “continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.” Cheney emphasized the legal inappropriateness of Trump’s comments, stating, “There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting – a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee – and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct.”
As Trump has persisted in these threats throughout his campaign, President Biden is reportedly considering preemptive pardons for those who have been targets of Trump’s wrath, such as Cheney, Democratic Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has faced criticism for his role in the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked about the possibility of Biden issuing these pardons, Trump responded, “Maybe he should.”
He added, “Biden can give them a pardon if he wants to. And maybe he should.”
