Following the Proud Boys’ sentencings for their roles during the January 6 Capitol riot, former Alaska Gov Sarah Palin weighed in, calling the sentences “disheartening” during an interview.
Newsmax host Eric Bolling began the segment by discussing the “extensive sentences” for “essentially trespassing” in the Capitol building. The host said “these charges are beyond extreme,” adding that it’s “truly a scary time in America.”
He was referring to Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, who received an 18-year prison sentence; Joe Biggs who received a 17-year sentence; Zachary Rehl, who received a 15-year sentence; and Dominic Pezzola, who received a 10-year sentence. On Tuesday, former leader of the far-right group, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced to a whopping 22 years in prison.
Bringing on his guest, Ms Palin, he asked: “Governor, blown away by these sentences. Fifteen, 17, and 18 years for nonviolent crimes. What do you say to all these lefties?”
“It’s so disheartening, the examples that you’ve given, Eric,” the former Alaska governor said. “It makes the populace lose a lot of faith in our government and that’s an understatement.”
She continued, “Unfortunately, what this leads to, when we recognise the examples that you just gave, the two-tier different justice systems that apply, according to politics, you know, it makes the good guy think what’s the use in being a good guy? We’re gonna be punished, you know, we’re picked on, is what we are under this system. But we can’t feel helpless and hopeless.”
Ms Palin said we “have to remember that we have three equal branches of government, right? And Congress has a lot to do with what’s going on in the judiciary.”
“Congress can’t keep sitting back, especially Republicans in the majority in some of these areas. Eric, they can’t sit back and just let all of this happen because it is dismantling of our traditional judicial system.”
When speaking about Joe Biggs, Bolling gave a sympathetic argument saying he’ll serve “17 years behind bars for being in the capitol for 20 minutes where he peacefully protested. He has a young daughter who he will “miss 17 Christmases with” and has “a mother with cancer,” Bolling said.
“There’s no evidence he was violent of any nature,” Bolling added, before asking if the governor thought the sentences were an attempt by the judiciary to “take Trump down?”
“One-hundred per cent. It’s all about taking Trump down. They had to grab on to something, right?” Ms Palin replied.
She then criticised the terminology being used to describe the acts of January 6: “The definition of ‘insurrection,’ that’s all about violence, that’s overthrowing a government….It wasn’t an insurrection on those people who wanted to get into the Capitol and exercise their right to protest.”
