Almost 20 months have passed since the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and federal cases involving rioters who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol Building that day continue to be prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice — much to the chagrin of former President Donald Trump. During a September 1 appearance on far-right Wendy Bell's online radio show, Trump promised to give "full pardons" to the January 6 rioters if he becomes president again.
Trump said of the prosecutions, "It's a disgrace what they're done to them. What they've done to these people, it's disgraceful. They're firemen, they're policemen, they're people in the military."
The former president described DOJ prosecutors as "some of the most cold-hearted people," adding, "They don't care about families. They don't care about anything. And you see what they're doing with the sentencing."
Trump went on to say, "I will look very, very favorably about full pardons. If I decide to run and if I win, I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons. Full pardons…. We'll be looking very, very seriously at full pardons, because we can't let that happen…. And I mean full pardons with an apology to many."
Trump also discussed the FBI search conducted at his Mar-a-Lago compound in Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, August 8. The agents were searching for classified government documents that, under federal law, should have remained in Washington, D.C. when Trump left the White House on January 20, 2021 — not been moved to private property such as Mar-a-Lago and kept in storage there. But Trump, speaking to Bell, found a way to work the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal of 2016 into the interview.
Trump told Bell, "I think they were looking for Hillary Clinton e-mails…. I think they thought — and who knows, boxes full of stuff — I think they thought it had something to do with the Russia Russia Russia hoax. They were afraid that things were in there. Part of their scams material."
Watch the interview below or at this link:
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
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
