Although Vice President J.D. Vance said two weeks ago that those who committed violence during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot “should not be condoned,” he defended President Trump issued 1,500 pardons Last week, that included the most violent criminals.
In Interview with CBS News' Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan“Vance was asked by Brennan last week about the 1,500 pardons issued by Mr. Trump. On Fox News, Vance said, 'If you protest peacefully on January 6 and Merrick Garland's Justice Department calls you a gang, If you believe this, you should be forgiven.
She asked Vance, “Did you advise the President against these blanket pardons for the 1,500 people — including those who committed violence?”
Vance, in his first interview since he became vice president, said he left off what he said in the Fox interview next fall, that “there are gray areas.” He accused the Justice Department, led by Merrick Garland, of “denying constitutional protections in prosecution,” and applying double standards in how it imposed sentences on “J6 protesters, versus other groups,” other groups. To do. ,
Mr Trump extends pardon For those convicted of violent and serious crimes, including assault on police officers and seditious conspiracy. He also ordered the attorney general to dismiss all pending indictments related to the Capitol riot, essentially ending the Biden Justice Department's massive effort to dismantle those that took part in the attack.
The vice president told Brennan that Mr. Trump had said that defendants would be considered “on a case-by-case basis, and that's what we did. We looked at 1,600 cases.” He accused the Biden Justice Department of denying “too many people” their constitutional rights, and he said he believed Mr. Trump “made the right decision.”
Brennan described two attacks against police officers on January 6: “Daniel Rodriguez used an electro-shock weapon against a policeman, driving him out of the defensive line by plunging into the neck of the officer. Year, 7 months. “Enforcement, how can you call these people unfairly imprisoned?”
Vance acknowledged, “There were people who actually did what happened on January 6, and we're not saying everyone did absolutely everything,” but he criticized the Justice Department for “unjustly imprisoning more than a thousand Americans.” Well, the prosecution was politically motivated.
Asked again whether “violence against a police officer is ever justified,” Vance said it is “not justified,” and then repeated his allegation that the January 6 defendants were exposed to an unfair process, “A double standard that was not applied to many people, including, of course, the Black Lives Matter rioters who killed more than two dozen people and never had the weight of a weaponized Justice Department come against them. “
In the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers in May 2020, millions participated in Black Lives Matter protests – More than 2,000 in US cities And according to the New York Times, in 60 countries around the world. According to the Trump-era Justice Department, 300 people were charged Approximately 35 individuals have been charged with federal crimes, including assaulting a law enforcement officer and related crimes.
“We righted a wrong,” Vance said, “and I stand by it.”