Jeffries bashes GOP over Jan. 6 pardons: 'Don't ever lecture America again'

Source: The Hill

01/21/25 4:07 PM ET


House Democratic leaders are bashing President Trump and his allies in the Capitol for supporting blanket clemency for those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Democrats say Republicans are hypocrites for claiming to support law enforcement while simultaneously backing Trump’s decision to pardon more than 1,500 people who were prosecuted for the rampage, including those who attacked police officers protecting the Capitol complex.

“House Republicans are celebrating pardons issued to a bloodthirsty mob that violently assaulted police officers on January 6, 2021. What happened to backing the Blue?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) posted Tuesday on Threads. “Far right extremists have become the party of lawlessness and disorder,” he continued. “Don’t ever lecture America again.” “About anything.”

Trump’s approach to the Jan. 6 rampage has evolved dramatically in the years since it happened. One day after the riot, the president said he was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem,” and he endorsed stiff punishments for those who participated.

“To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country,” he said in a speech to the country. “And to those who broke the law, you will pay.” Since then, however, Trump has sought to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, recasting the rioters as patriots and reframing the rampage as “a day of love.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5098695-democrats-criticize-trump-endorse-jan-6-pardons/