WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump said once again Wednesday that he would pardon Jan. 6 rioters if he wins the election, repeatedly lying about what happened during the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, which injured more than 140 police officers.
"Oh, absolutely, I would. If they're innocent, I would pardon them," Trump said during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists. "They were convicted by a very tough system."
More than 1,400 people have been charged in connection with the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and prosecutors have secured more than 1,000 convictions on charges ranging from unlawful parading to seditious conspiracy. Hundreds of cases remain pending, and more arrests are expected before the five-year statute of limitations runs out in early 2026, but all the Jan. 6 cases could theoretically be brought to an end if Trump wins and his appointees take over the Justice Department.
Trump has referred to Jan. 6 rioters as "warriors," "unbelievable patriots," political prisoners and "hostages." Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan and has overseen numerous Capitol attack trials, has expressed shock at the "preposterous" rhetoric about convicted criminals that Republicans regularly use about Jan. 6 rioters. “In my thirty-seven years on the bench, I cannot recall a time when such meritless justifications of criminal activity have gone mainstream," Lamberth wrote this year.
Asked Wednesday about his plans for Jan. 6 rioters by Rachel Scott of ABC News, Trump engaged in whataboutism, falsely claiming that there had been a "horrible attack on the Capitol" last week when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress. That's not true: Police kept pro-Palestinian demonstrators away from the Capitol.
Trump appeared to be referring to protests at Columbus Circle by Union Station, where protesters burned flags, spray-painted a 1912 monument to Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and a 49-year-old replica of the Liberty Bell, and assaulted officers. One officer appeared to have been dragged by the collar from behind when he tried to make an arrest. Ten people were arrested, and U.S. Park Police are seeking the identities of six other people, including for assaults on officers and vandalizing federal property.
“They viciously attacked our government, they fought with police, they fought with them much more openly than I saw on Jan. 6,” Trump claimed of the pro-Palestinian protesters.
While there were assaults on officers on July 24, they are not comparable to the multitude of assaults on law enforcement during the hourslong Jan. 6 attack, which left multiple officers with life-altering and career-ending injuries and resulted in the line-of-duty death of Washington Police Officer Jeffrey Smith. Another officer, Brian Sicknick of the Capitol Police, died the day after the attack of natural causes, but a medical examiner said that what happened during the attack "played a role" in his death.
Jan. 6 defendants were caught on tape brandishing or using firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, office furniture, pepper spray, bear spray, a tomahawk ax, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, a massive “Trump” billboard, “Trump” flags, a pitchfork, pieces of lumber, crutches and even an explosive device during the brutal attack.
Trump claimed that the spray paint on the monuments he falsely said were at the Capitol "will never actually come off, especially in the limestone," and that the paint will be seen on the stone "100 years from now."
When an NBC News reporter visited Columbus Circle on Wednesday evening, the cleanup effort appeared to have been effective, though some remnants of the vandalism remained around the site. Trump's claims about permanent damage to the monument are suspect: The monument — which few visitors even realize is dedicated to Columbus — has regularly fallen into disrepair and neglect, and the National Park Service noted in 2016 that the statuary had already “been painted over to hide expanding discoloration.” This isn't the first time the monument has been spray-painted — back in 1991, Columbus Fountain was hit with red paint and "500 years of genocide" graffiti.
When Scott asked Trump directly whether he would pardon Jan. 6 rioters who were seen on video assaulting officers with flagpoles and dragging officers down the stairs of the Capitol, Trump didn't answer and instead pivoted to talking about the officer who shot and killed a Jan. 6 rioter.
"They shot a young lady in the face who was protesting," Trump said, referring to Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed as she jumped through a broken window leading into the House Speaker's Lobby as members of Congress were fleeing the mob that was trying to break into the House chamber. The Black officer who shot and killed Babbitt, who has come under racist attacks and threats, said he shot her only "as a last resort" after law enforcement barricaded the doors with every piece of furniture they could find.
"You went after the J6 people with a vengeance," Trump said Wednesday before repeating a conspiracy theory that officers were "ushering everybody into the Capitol." In reality, officers at the Capitol were overwhelmed by a hostile mob, with one lifelong Republican officer testifying at a recent trial that the scene he saw at the Capitol was unlike anything he'd encountered in his decades in law enforcement.
Trump claimed that there were "two systems of justice" and that he is facing criminal charges related to Jan. 6 and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election not as a result of his own actions but because he was being targeted owing to politics.
"We're going to win our cases, and we're going to be vindicated, but I have to spend a lot of time on that, and money, that's what they want," Trump said. "After the election, they won't care ... although, in my case, I think they probably will, because the hatred is deep."
Trump's trial over his efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power by lying about the election results won't happen until after the November election because of the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity. That ruling is also likely to weaken special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case against Trump.
Trump's comments came the same day the Justice Department announced three new cases against Jan. 6 defendants.
Michael Kieth Williams was arrested in Texas, with authorities saying he stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 while "carrying a flag depicting then-President Donald Trump as the character 'Rambo.'" Williams, authorities said, made it onto the floor of the Senate and then faced off with officers outside the Capitol and "aggressively waived the large Trump flag towards officers for several minutes," which they said helped prevent officers from moving forward and interfered with the effectiveness of the chemical irritants they used to try to keep the pro-Trump mob at bay.
Paul Marvin Nowell was arrested in North Carolina, with authorities saying he approached a police line on the west front of the Capitol wearing a black paintball mask and then yelled "You are not Americans" at officers and refused police orders to move back before he pushed against officers' shields.
Jason Robert Tasker was arrested in Arizona, with authorities saying he harassed officers outside the Capitol, yelling, "All of you are dismissed, go home!” before he lunged at officers during two confrontations and trying to grab two officers during a struggle with police. He found another way into the building, then confronted officers inside the Capitol, prosecutors say. Tasker then bragged about his actions in a phone call on the steps of the Capitol.
"I was like the first person in Momma," Tasker was recorded saying.
