More than half of Republican voters want January 6 US Capitol offenders PARDONED
EXCLUSIVE: More than half of Republican voters want pardons for violators of the US Capitol on January 6 — in support of policies by Republican presidential rivals Trump and DeSantis
- Most Republican voters and conservatives want the Capitol rioters pardoned
- Trump and DeSantis have said they will quash convictions once in the Oval Office
- More than 1,030 people had been charged with the uprising
More than half of Republican voters support pardoning those convicted of offenses committed during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, a DailyMail.com/TIPP poll found.
A whopping 54 percent of GOP voters support ignoring the convictions of those who violated the Capitol in early 2021 — a policy pursued by Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis as they compete for the party’s presidential nomination.
However, of all respondents, only 34 percent supported pardoning those who rioted that day, while 57 percent opposed the idea, according to our survey of nearly 1,400 adults.
As many as 2,000 people took part in the effort to reverse then-President Trump’s electoral defeat by Joe Biden, a Democrat. Some participants have said they were patriots who were misled.
American adults are generally against pardoning those who violated the Capitol on January 6
Members of the Oath Keepers are seen among then-President Trump’s supporters at the U.S. Capitol to protest the certification of the 2020 election results
More than 1,000 people have been charged with various forms of assault, conspiracy, property damage and trespassing, according to official figures. More than 500 have been convicted.
Former President Trump said last month he would pardon a “large portion” of those convicted of Jan. 6 federal crimes if he were re-elected commander in chief in 2024.
“I’m inclined to pardon many of them,” Trump said at a New Hampshire town hall meeting.
“I can’t say for everyone, because a few are probably out of control.”
Days later, Florida Gov. DeSantis, Trump’s only serious challenger in the crowded field of Republicans seeking the party’s nomination, dangled a similar offer to the primary voters.
On a conservative radio talk show, DeSantis vowed to investigate the cases of January 6 rioters, pro-life activists and parents arrested for their actions at school board meetings, and to be “aggressive” in granting pardons.
“We’ll use the clemency power — and I’ll do that up front,” DeSantis said.
He also said the Justice Department and FBI were “armed” to attack people from “disadvantaged groups.”
Republicans and conservatives want the convictions of the January 6 insurgents overturned
Former President Donald Trump (left) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have both floated the idea of pardoning the January 6 rioters as they compete for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination
The Justice Department said last month that more than 1,030 people had been charged with the uprising, and 570 had pleaded guilty.
The most common charges relate to entering or staying in a restricted federal building or site. Other charges include assaulting, resisting or interfering with officers or employees, including with deadly or dangerous weapons.
Some of the longest sentences have gone to people associated with the right-wing Oath Keepers militia, who were tried under the rarely used charge of seditious conspiracy.
The group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last month.
Jacob Chansley, 35, the so-called “QAnon shaman” who pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol in September 2021, was released from prison in March, 14 months before his sentence was due, in an apparent good behavior reduction .