Vance says violent Jan. 6 protesters shouldn't be pardoned

Wendy Benjaminson, Bloomberg News on Jan 11, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Vice President-elect JD Vance tempered his boss’s promise to pardon all the protesters involved in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, saying those who behaved violently should “obviously” not receive pardons.

President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly vowed during his campaign that on his first day in office he would pardon the protesters who stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 election, which President Joe Biden won.

Five people died as a result of the violence and the hundreds injured included 174 police officers; 127 defendants were convicted on at least one charge related to the riot.

“If you protested peacefully on January 6, and you had Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned,” Vance said in an interview to air Sunday on "Fox News Sunday." “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”

Trump has begun to modify his promise since winning election, saying that “many” will be pardoned and that there could be exceptions for people who “got out of control.” But he hasn’t made the clear distinction that Vance made between violent and non-violent protesters.