President Donald Trump’s decision to issue a blanket pardon for his nearly 1,600 supporters arrested for their role in the Capitol riot on 6 January, 2021 has been met with criticism by US lawmakers.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, stated on Sunday it was a “mistake” to pardon or commute the sentences of “people who went into the Capitol and beat up a police officer violently.”.
No fewer than 600 rioters were charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement officers in connection with the attack at the US Capitol.
Vice President JD Vance defended the pardons on Sunday, saying Trump had “made the right decision.”
It was a reversal for Vance, who stated two weeks ago that “if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”
The shift reflects a wider dilemma for Republican lawmakers brought by the executive order: either defend the pardons—which appear unpopular with voters—or oppose them and potentially face Trump’s ire.
A recent Associated Press survey suggests that only two in 10 Americans approve of pardoning most of those involved in the raid.
Graham acknowledged that the president “has that power” in an interview with CNN on Sunday; however, he said he did not approve of its use by Trump or his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Just before leaving office last week, the former president, Joe Biden, pardoned members of his own family and an indigenous-rights activist who was involved in a shootout that killed two FBI agents.
“I don’t like it on either side, and I don’t think the public likes it, either,” he told CNN.
Graham disclosed he had spoken to Trump about the order and suggested that Congress may have to review the presidential pardon power in general.
Earlier in Trump’s first week, Republicans such as Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell expressed their contempt over the president’s order.
However, other Republicans have come to Trump’s defence.
“The president’s made his decision. I don’t second-guess those,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said this week.
“It’s kind of my ethos, my worldview: We believe in redemption. We believe in second chances,” Johnson added. “You could argue that those people didn’t pay that heavy penalty, having been incarcerated and all of that. That’s up to you. But the president’s made a decision. We move forward.”
On Sunday, Vance told Margaret Brennan of CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that Trump made the right decision pardoning and commuting the sentences of the rioters.
“We looked at 1,600 cases, and the thing that came out of it… is that there was a massive denial of due process of liberty, and a lot of people were denied their constitutional rights,” Vance said, adding that the Department of Justice’s prosecution of the rioters was “politically motivated.”.
“The president believes that. I believe that, and I think he made the right decision,” he said. “We rectified a wrong, and I stand by it.”.
Republicans, such as Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, have sidestepped discussing Trump’s Capitol riot order by maintaining that their focus is on the country’s future.
