Donald Trump hinted on Sunday night that he plans to capitalize on Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter by connecting it to his own potential controversial pardon of January 6 defendants.
Trump raised questions about whether Biden’s pardon of Hunter also extends to the January 6 detainees, whom he referred to as “Hostages” and criticized as victims of an unjust justice system.
That came not long after Fox News commentator Charlie Hurt made the linkage.
In his first public statement since Biden’s announcement of the pardon, Trump suggested that he believes the January 6 defendants deserve clemency and that those who were merely caught up in the events at the Capitol should be pardoned.
‘Pardon every single one of them. There were some that did more than just that. And I think he should commute their sentences and let them all out! Every single one of them,’ he said.
According to the Justice Department, 140 police officers were assulated during the attack on the Capitol, including 80 U.S. Capitol Police officers and 60 from DC’s Metropolitan Police Department.
Trump repeatedly floated the idea of the pardons himself during his campaign. His new choice to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, has also taken up the cause of January 6 defendants. He also played ‘Justice for All,’ a rendition of the national anthem as sung by January 6 defendants, at campaign rallies.
More than 1,200 people have been charged on January 6-related charges. Many battled with police officers. Others got charged with interfering with an official proceeding on a day Congress met to certify the electoral votes that made Joe Biden president.Â
Donald Trump sees Joe Biden’s decision to pardon son Hunter as a symptom of a broken justice system politicized by the liberal left but did not directly criticize the president for the move
‘I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control,’ Trump said during a May 2023 CNN town hall. ‘I would say it will be a large portion of them and it would be early on’ in his term.
Trump has avoided specifics on which defendants he might pardon. Some were convicted of using explosives or using blunt force objects to batter police officers.Â
Trump did not directly criticize the president for the move, but his incoming communications director used it to punch back at what Trump calls the many ‘witch hunts’ against him. In yet another stunnign move last week, special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge hearing the January 6 election overturn case against Trump to dismiss the case now that Trump has been elected, citing his immunity under DOJ guidelines.
‘Dismissal without prejudice is appropriate here,’ Chutkan Tanya Chutkan wrote in her decision.
‘Dismissal without prejudice is also consistent with the Government’s understanding that the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office,’ she added.
Biden made the shock announcement Sunday night that he would issue a presidential pardon for his troubled son, calling his prosecution ‘selective’ and ‘unfair.’
In a statement, a spokesperson for Trump slammed what they called the Democrat-controlled justice system but didn’t appear to disagree with the decision.
Trump linked the Hunter Biden pardon to January 6 defendants, suggesting he will pardon them once in office
‘Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!’ Trump wrote
‘The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,’ Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told DailyMail.com.Â
‘That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people.’
However, on Truth Social, he was a little angrier, wondering if the same courtesy would be given to those charged for their acts at the Capitol on January 6.Â
He wrote: ‘Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!’Â
The president-elect’s attitude toward Hunter has been somewhat softer than many expect, given how hard Trump has hit Biden on his son’s foibles over the years. Â
Biden made the shock announcement Sunday night that he would issue a presidential pardon for his troubled son, calling his prosecution ‘selective’ and ‘unfair’
In October, Trump, who issued a slew of pardons during his four years in office and on his way out the door in January 2021, weighed in on the Hunter Biden pardon issue, with a response that surprised many.
Asked by radio host Hugh Hewitt last month if he would consider pardoning Hunter Biden, Trump said, ‘I wouldn’t take it off the books.Â
‘See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously, despite what – and Hunter’s a bad boy, there’s no question about it, he’s been a bad boy.
‘But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country,’ Trump said of what he considers politically motivated prosecutions and punishment which he likens to his own experience.
