Ron DeSantis hints he’ll PARDON Proud Boys who were jailed for up to 22 years each for January 6 Capitol riots – as he condemns their ‘excessive sentences’

Ron DeSantis has indicated he would “look” at pardoning the Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 if he is elected president.

Florida’s governor focused on the “excessive sentences” imposed on the activists, the longest of which was handed down Tuesday to the group’s former leader, Enrique Tarrio – who was sentenced to 22 years for the offense.

Sentences for the four Proud Boys leaders put behind bars range from 15 to 22 years, with Tarrio’s length of time considered by some to be as severe as him not even being in D.C. at the time of the riot.

Desantis, 44, was hesitant to grant a blanket pardon as he admitted there were “people who probably committed misconduct, maybe they were violent,” but said double standards were being applied to the lack of prosecution of BLM rioters.

Tarrio is one of several other senior former or current Proud Boys leaders convicted of the January 6 attack, and prosecutors continue to add to the more than 1,100 people charged in the siege.

Former Proud Boys national president Enrique Tarrio was sentenced this week to 22 years in prison for his role in organizing the January 6, 2021 riots

DeSantis hinted that he wanted to pardon the Proud Boys in an interview with Newsmax’s Eric Bolling on Wednesday, the day after Tarrio was in jail.

When asked if he would pardon or commute the sentences imposed on the group, which ranged from 15 to 22 years, DeSantis said he would “look at all those cases” if he became president.

“There are examples of people who should not have been prosecuted. They just walked into the Capitol,” he said, arguing that if they had been BLM protesters, “they wouldn’t have been prosecuted.”

“Then there are other examples of people who have probably committed misconduct, possibly violent,” he continued.

“But to say it’s an act of terrorism, when it was actually a protest that turned into a riot, to inflict outrageous punishments – you can look at: okay, maybe they were guilty, but 22 years if other people who other did things, got six months. ?’

He concluded with a veiled swipe at the recent prosecutions against Donald Trump, which some Republicans claim are biased by President Biden’s Justice Department, as he called for “a single standard of justice.”

“We will use clemency and lump sums where appropriate to ensure everyone is treated equally, and as we know many people with the BLM riots have not been prosecuted at all.”

Trump supporters surround a noose and gallows near the Capitol on Jan. 6

Proud Boys members, including Zachary Rehl, left, Ethan Nordean, center, and Joseph Biggs, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump

Proud Boys member Ethan Nordean walks to the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, in support of President Donald Trump

Prosecutors sought more than 30 years in prison in Tarrio’s case, describing him as the ringleader of a plot to use violence during the January 6 riots.

Tarrio discussed “revolutions” and “storming” of the Capitol complex prior to Jan. 6, but was not in the capitol at the time because upon entering the capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, he was arrested for a previous offense of burning the Black Lives Matter flag and various weapons charges.

He was prosecuted for the siege by self-proclaimed Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs, who sobbed as he was sentenced to 17 years on Thursday for his role in the riot after pleading for clemency to care for his daughter and ailing mother.

The judge ruled that Biggs was eligible for an increased terrorism sentence for tearing down a fence that stood between police and rioters.

Ethan Nordean, who prosecutors said was the leader of the Proud Boys at the scene on Jan. 6, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, tying the record for the longest sentence in the attack at the time before it was executed by Tarrio. beaten.

Prosecutors had demanded 27 years for Nordean, president of Seattle’s Proud Boys Chapter.

Lawyers for the Proud Boys deny that there was a plot to attack the Capitol or to stop the transfer of presidential power.

“There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Tarrio directed participants to storm the U.S. Capitol prior to or during the event,” Tarrio’s attorneys wrote in court.

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio (pictured with co-defendant Joseph Biggs) was found guilty of seditious conspiracy following the January 6, 2021 riot

Police arrested Tarrio in Washington on January 4, 2021 on charges that he defaced a Black Lives Matter banner at an earlier rally in the nation’s capital, but law enforcement officials later said he was arrested in part due to concerns over the possibility of unrest during the certification.

He complied with the judge’s order to leave the city after his arrest.

On January 6, dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members, and associates were among the first rioters to break into the Capitol. The mob attack overwhelmed police, forced lawmakers to flee the floors of the House and Senate and disrupted the joint session of Congress to certify Biden’s victory.

The backbone of the government’s case was the hundreds of messages exchanged by Proud Boys in the days leading up to January 6.

In one notable example, when Proud Boys flooded the Capitol, Tarrio cheered them from afar, writing on social media, “Do what needs to be done.” In an encrypted group chat from Proud Boys later that day, someone asked what they should do next.

Tarrio replied, “Do it again.”

“Make no mistake,” Tarrio wrote in another post. “We did this.”