Graham on Jan. 6 pardons: ‘I don’t like it’
Sen. Lindsey Graham said he doesn’t approve of President Trump’s pardoning of the Jan. 6 rioters, especially those who “beat up cops” who were defending the Capitol.
“No,” Graham said, when asked whether he’s okay with the most violent offenders on Jan. 6 getting pardoned, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I've always said that I think when you pardon people who attack police officers, you're sending the wrong signal to the public at large, and that's not what you want to do to protect cops,” Graham continued. “But he has that power.”
Graham noted that he also did not like former President Biden’s last-minute pardons of his family and of the defendants who shot two FBI agents in South Dakota.
“I don't like this. I don't like it on either side, and I think the public doesn't like it either. So if this continues, if this is the norm, it may be an effort to reign in the pardon power of the president as an institution,” Graham said.
In an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Graham added, “But as to pardoning violent people who beat up cops, I think that's a mistake.”
Trump granted roughly 1,500 “full, complete and unconditional pardons” for rioters who were charged in connection to the Jan. 6 riot. In total, 1,583 defendants have been charged. Some 600 of those defendants were accused of resisting and assaulting police officers.
Updated at 10:48 p.m. EDT
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