President Donald Trump revealed on Thursday that he’s financially supporting some defendants facing criminal charges following the Jan. 6, 2021, incursion at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump also suggested he’d seriously look at pardoning some of the individuals convicted of Jan. 6-related charges should he be re-elected to a second, non-consecutive term in 2024.
Trump made the comments during a phone interview with Wendy Bell.
Bell asked Trump about the individuals jailed in Washington, D.C., as a result of the Capitol incursion.
Trump expressed his support for many of the defendants, revealing that he has made financial contributions to them as they fight their charges.
“I’m financially supporting people that are incredible,” the former president said.
“They were in my office actually two days ago. It’s very much on my mind.”
Should Jan. 6 defendants receive pardons?
Trump described the people facing charges as American public servants.
“What they’ve done to these people, it’s disgraceful. And mostly it’s firemen, they’re policemen, they’re people in the military,” Trump said.
Trump pledged that he would even go so far as to consider pardons for Jan. 6 defendants in the event that he returns to the White House.
“I will look very, very favorably about full pardons,” Trump said.
“If I decide to run and if I win, I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons. Full pardons.”
Trump also suggested his administration would provide an apology to the individuals who had been “badly treated.”
At least one Jan. 6 protester has been acquitted of criminal charges stemming from the incident.
Other defendants have received years-long sentences for their actions in the incursion.
Sentences for defendants in Jan. 6 cases have widely varied.
A man convicted of assaulting a Capitol Police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday. That is the longest sentence a Jan. 6 defendant has received, according to The Washington Post.
The median prison sentence for a Jan. 6 defendant was 45 days as of June, according to Time magazine.
