Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Thursday that if elected president, he will consider pardoning all the Jan. 6 defendants &mdash including former President Trump &mdash on his first day in office, The Hill reported.
“On day one, I will have folks that will get together and look at all these cases, who people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we will be aggressive in issuing pardons,” DeSantis was quoted as having said on “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” when asked about whether he will consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump, who is currently facing a federal investigation over his role in the Capitol riots.
“I would say any example of disfavored treatment based on politics, or weaponization would be included in that review, no matter how small or how big,” he added.
DeSantis also accused the Justice Department and the FBI of weaponizing their authority by pursuing ongoing investigations into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Trump has also previously said he would pardon many of those convicted for their involvement in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
He made similar comments last January, saying at the time, “If I run, and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.”
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) later distanced himself from Trump”s suggestion and said the comments are “inappropriate.”
DeSantis” comments came one day after he officially launched his presidential campaign with a video announcing that he is running in order “to lead our Great American Comeback”.
He also joined a Twitter Spaces conversation with Twitter owner Elon Musk, in which he was to have announce his presidential bid, but that did not go well, as Twitter’s servers could not handle the surge in traffic, causing the site to crash.
DeSantis has consistently been the trailing Trump in second place in recent polls as the former president ramps up his attacks on the governor.
(Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shavuot in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)
