A handful of Republican senators pushed back against President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon roughly 1,500 Capitol riot defendants.
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill were particularly critical of the pardons for those convicted of assaulting police officers, while others declined to defend Trump's move. and commute the sentences of more than a dozen others in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I just can’t agree,” Tillis said of Trump’s actions. “I’m about to file two bills that will increase the penalties up to and including the death penalty for the murder of a police officer and increasing the penalties and creating federal crimes for assaulting a police officer — that should give you everything you need to know about my position.”
Senators reacted to an executive order by President Trump that pardoned over 1,500 people charged with crimes in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, said she draws a distinction between those who “got caught up in the crowd that day” and those who “assaulted police officers with their fists, with flag poles, with pepper spray and destroyed property.”Tillis and others also echoed Collins’ concerns about the Biden pardons.
“The president made that decision. You’ll have to ask him. I will not defend it,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. at Trump supporters before they stormed the Capitol four years ago, said if he were president he would not have offered pardons to individuals who committed violence on Jan. 6. But he added that Trump campaigned on pardoning these individuals and then followed through.Other Republicans brushed aside questions about the pardons. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
“Everybody’s asking me about J6,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. “None of you guys are asking about the Biden pardons.”
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