Former President Donald Trump dangled the prospect of pardoning defendants who have been charged with crimes related to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 if he runs and wins a second term in the White House.
“You get some of these judges that are so, so nasty and so angry and mean,” Trump told conservative radio host Wendy Bell on Thursday. “We will be looking look very, very favorably about full pardons. If I decide to run and if I win, I will be looking very, very strongly at full pardons … with an apology.”
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Trump’s remarks came after Bell asked him about his plans to address the hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants “who have been dragged through hell and some are still locked up in the D.C. Gitmo.”
“I met with and I am financially supporting people that are incredible people, and they were in my office actually two days ago, so they’re very much in my mind,” Trump also said in his response without specifying precisely whom he met. “It’s a disgrace what they’ve done to them. What they’ve done to these people is disgraceful.”
In new interview, Trump says he met with J6ers recently and is “financially supporting” some of them. Then says if he wins re-election he will be “looking very strongly at full pardons” for all J6 defendants, “with an apology” from the govt. pic.twitter.com/xdIVEMt7Sf
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) September 1, 2022
Trump also sidestepped a question about whether he will run in 2024 but teased that he thinks Bell is “going to be really happy with it.”
During hearings held by the Jan. 6 committee, former members of the Trump administration, including former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, recounted how staffers pleaded with the former president to sharpen his language when addressing the rioters and call off his supporters during the storming of the Capitol. The riot briefly disrupted the process of Congress certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
The Jan. 6 committee also played outtakes of Trump revising his speech aimed at condemning the violence. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL), one of two Republican members on the panel, went so far as to argue Trump’s actions and lack thereof amounted to a “seditious conspiracy.”
Roughly 900 people have been arrested and charged with crimes in connection to the riot. Beyond this, the Justice Department has been conducting a sprawling investigation into the organization of the riot and coinciding efforts to challenge the 2020 election. On Thursday, a judge handed down a 10-year sentence against a former police officer for various charges related to the riot — the longest sentencing in a Jan. 6 case so far.
Trump’s remarks come as Biden is slated to deliver a prime-time speech in Philadelphia about “the continued battle for the soul of the nation” and warn about extremist threats to the United States from within.
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During the interview with Bell, Trump also appeared to pitch a new theory about why the FBI “invaded” his Mar-a-Lago estate last month: that the bureau was on the hunt for Hillary Clinton’s emails.
“This thing has brought us together, but I think they were looking for Hillary Clinton emails. I really think — I think they thought and, who knows, you know, boxes full of stuff. I think they thought that there was something to do with the Russia, Russia, Russia,” Trump told Bell.
In a new interview, Trump says he believes DOJ was really looking for Russiagate material and Hillary Clinton emails during the search. pic.twitter.com/PtLBIQKjwp
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) September 1, 2022
The FBI conducted a search and seizure of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, and the Justice Department says more than 100 documents with classified markings were seized. Authorities are investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice, according to an unsealed warrant for the August raid. An underlying affidavit said the “government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records.” The affidavit also noted there was “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found.”
Trump, who denies wrongdoing, decried the raid as an “unAmerican break-in.” In public, Trump claims he declassified the material stashed in Mar-a-Lago, though his lawyers said in a filing on Wednesday that they agree with the government that “it would be appropriate for the special master to possess a Top Secret/SCI security.”
