Republicans Won't Denounce Trump's Pardons For Jan. 6 Rioters Who Beat Police Officers

Source: Huff Post

Jan 21, 2025, 03:08 PM EST



WASHINGTON — They said over and over that violent Jan. 6 rioters shouldn’t get a reprieve, but now that President Donald Trump has pardoned nearly all defendants convicted of participating in the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Republicans were mostly OK with it.

“We’re looking at the future, not the past,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters on Monday after Trump issued sweeping pardons that included scores of people who assaulted police officers at the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) deferred to Trump, saying that “it’s the president’s prerogative.”

And while Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) maintained that people who violate the law should be prosecuted, he demurred when asked by a reporter specifically about the Jan. 6 pardons. “I haven’t gone into the detail,” Scott said.

Tuesday’s dodges by Republican senators marked the return of a frequent ritual from Trump’s first term: He would do or say something outrageous, and when reporters asked members of his party about it, they somehow hadn’t heard about it.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-trump-jan-6-pardons_n_678fef6ae4b02903dff7df0a