Last Updated on December 17, 2024
Senator Mitt Romney is criticizing President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to pardon individuals who were prosecuted for participating in the Save America rally at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Jake Tapper questioned Senator Romney, a prominent member of the Republicans Against Trump group, about his worries regarding how the portrayal of the events of January 6 by Democrats and the media will hold up if Trump returns to the presidency.
“Four years ago this coming month, you were fleeing from the mob on January 6. Now, the individual you hold responsible for that day is preparing to go back to the White House,” Tapper remarked. “He intends to grant pardons to many of those who have been convicted for the crimes committed on that day.”
“What do you think the legacy of January 6 will be in the history books, given the fact that, as they say, history is written by the winners. Donald Trump won and there’s been this attempt to whitewash the whole thing?”
Romney assured the state-run media that January 6 will continue to be seen “as a very dark day in American history.”
“I’m not sure history is written by winners in this case, politics is written by winners but the history books are typically written by scholars of one kind or another. I think attacking the Capital of the United States of America, smearing feces on the wall, attacking police officers, injuring police officers that will be seen as being an abuse and a felony and being wrong,” Romney lamented. “Who is responsible for it? There’ll be all sorts of conspiracy theories, but ultimately confessions and guilty verdicts sort of sort that out and it will be seen.”
“It was a very dark day in American history,” he said. I think it’s unfortunate that some in the MAGA world try and paper over it, but I don’t think it’s possible to do.”
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Romney, the first member of Congress to call the January 6 rally, that police escalated into a riot by illegally using excessive force to shoot, bomb and gas demonstrators, an “insurrection.”
“I mean, this was an attack on on the symbol of democracy throughout the world, the United States Capitol and and an attack by a brutal mob,” Romney continued. “People were injured, and there was an effort to try and prevent the peaceful transfer of power. It was a very dark day in American history and it will be recorded as such.”
During Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020, Romney was the only Senate Republican to find him guilty of abuse of power.
In 2021, Romney was one of seven Senate Republicans who crossed party lines to find Trump guilty of inciting the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Tapper asked Romney whether he is concerned that he or his family could become targets for political retribution by Trump.
“No, actually,” he replied. “I’ve been pretty clean throughout my life. I’m not particularly worried about criminal investigations.”
“I don’t know how much, by the way, of what the president says is hyperbole,” he said, adding, “I think President Trump is likely to try and focus on the future.”
