Vice President-elect J.D. Vance broke down the process of determining which Jan. 6 protesters will and won’t be pardoned.
As President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration approaches, he has promised to swiftly pardon those with charges surrounding Jan. 6, 2021. The promise has stirred speculation of which cases will be dismissed and which will continue under Trump, which Vance clarified on Fox News Sunday.
“I think it’s very simple. Look, if you protested peacefully on January the sixth and you’ve had Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned. There’s a little bit of a gray area there, but we’re very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law. And there are a lot of people we think in the wake of January the sixth who were prosecuted unfairly. We need to rectify that.”
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In total, some 1,600 people were charged for their actions on Jan. 6. Some were simply charged with trespassing, while others have faced battery charges for their interactions with Capitol Police that day.
Jan. 6 this year, the ceremonious day to certify the election, was commemorated with an increased security presence throughout the Capitol. While there were protesters that day calling on lawmakers to not certify the election in Trump’s favor, the day came and went without incident.
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Meanwhile, Trump maintains that he “didn’t do anything wrong” concerning his actions ahead of the Capitol riot in 2021, but instead, the January 6 Committee members have instigated allegations against him. Members of the now-defunct January 6 Committee are mixed on their outlooks for the future since Trump suggested they “should go to jail.”
Less than three weeks after Trump bested Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, special prosecutor Jack Smith dismissed his case that centered on Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Smith had attempted to speed up his cases against Trump and go to trial before this month’s election. Even though it occurred at the end of Trump’s first term in 2020, this case wasn’t brought to light until after Trump announced his reelection campaign.
