JD Vance, the vice president-elect, stated on Sunday which individuals he believes need to be pardoned by the president for their roles in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Vance told Fox News Sunday that if you peacefully demonstrated on January 6 and were treated like a gang member by [Attorney General] Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice, you need to be forgiven.
“Obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned if you committed violence on that day,” he continued.
Vance’s remarks somewhat deviated from the intentions for pardons that President-elect Donald Trump has outlined.
Trump told Meet the Press in a December interview with NBC News that he would pardon his supporters who rioted on January 6 on his first day in office. He also said that the rioters had been convicted in a very harsh system.
Trump declared, “I’m going to be acting very quickly, first day,” adding that the convicted rioters had been there for years and that the area was dirty and terrible, not even fit to be open.
Trump, in contrast to Vance, did not rule out pardoning people who entered guilty pleas to heinous offenses like assaulting police.
Regarding the guilty pleas, Trump added, “I know the system,” since they had no other option. The system is extremely rotten. A man is told that he will either spend two years or thirty years in prison. And these men, whose entire lives have been ruined, are searching. They have been demolished over the past two years.
When questioned last week, Trump reaffirmed that he was thinking about issuing “major pardons” to the rioters of January 6 and that he would not rule out doing so.
On Sunday, Vance acknowledged that there is some ambiguity around the individuals who carried out violent crimes on January 6 and reaffirmed our strong commitment to ensuring that the law is administered equally.
Vance later clarified his comments in a post on X, stating that he and the president-elect will consider each Jan. 6 case separately and that violent offenders who were provoked would also be considered for pardons.
It’s hardly a walkback when the president says he will consider each situation, and I agree. We care about people who are wrongfully incarcerated, I promise. “Yes,” Vance added, “that includes those who were provoked and those who received a garbage trial.”
An NBC News request for comment on this story was not immediately answered by a Trump transition team official.
In relation to their conduct at the Capitol, over 1,270 defendants have been found guilty since January 2021, and over 1,580 have been taken into custody. Over 700 people have either served out their sentences or were never given jail or prison time.