Vice President-elect JD Vance said Sunday who he believes should and should not receive presidential pardons for their actions during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
“If you protested peacefully on January 6 and have had [Attorney General] Merrick Garland’s Justice Department treats you like a gang member, you should be forgiven,” Vance told “Fox News Sunday.”
He added: “If you committed violence that day, obviously you should not be forgiven.”
Vance’s comments broke slightly with what President-elect Donald Trump has laid out in his pardon plans.
In a December interview with NBC News, Trump told “Meet the Press” that on his first day in office he would pardon his supporters who rioted on Jan. 6, adding that the rioters have been prosecuted in a ” very unpleasant system.”
“I’m going to act very quickly, on day one,” Trump said, adding that the rioters who have been convicted have “been there for years, and they’re in a dirty, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”
Unlike Vance, Trump did not rule out pardoning those who plead guilty to violent crimes such as assaulting police officers.
“Because they had no choice,” Trump said of the guilty pleas, adding, “I know the system. The system is a very corrupt system. They tell a guy: ‘You’re going to go to jail for two years or 30 years.’ And these guys are watching, their entire lives have been destroyed. For two years they have been destroyed.”
Last week, Trump reiterated that he was considering “significant pardons” for the January 6 rioters and would not rule out including them on his pardon list when asked.
Vance said Sunday that “there’s a little bit of a gray area” regarding those who committed violence on Jan. 6, adding that “we’re very committed to seeing equitable administration of the law.”
Later, in a post on
“That the president says that he will examine each case (and that I say the same) is not a setback. I assure you that we care about people locked up unjustly. Yes, that includes people who were provoked and it includes people who received a garbage trial,” Vance wrote.
A spokesperson for Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment on this story.
Since January 2021, more than 1,270 defendants have been convicted in connection with their actions at the Capitol and more than 1,580 have been arrested. More than 700 have served their sentences or were never sentenced to jail or prison.
Ryan J. Reilly and Vaughn Hillyard contributed.
