More Than Half Of Republican Voters Want January 6 US Capitol Offenders PARDONED — Boosting A Policy Floated By Republican Presidential Rivals Trump And DeSantis
- Most Republican voters and conservatives want the Capitol rioters pardoned
- Trump and DeSantis have said they'll quash convictions once in the Oval Office
- More than 1,030 people had been charged over the insurrection
More than half of Republican voters support issuing pardons to those convicted of offenses during the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, a DailyMail.com/TIPP poll shows.
Fully 54 percent of GOP voters support nixing the convictions of those who breached the Capitol in early 2021 — a policy that's been floated by Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis as they joust for the party's presidential nomination.
Across all respondents, however, only 34 percent supported pardons for those who rioted that day, while 57 percent oppose the idea, according to our survey of nearly 1,400 adults.
As many as 2,000 people took part in the effort to overturn then-president Trump's electoral defeat to Joe Biden, a Democrat. Some of those who took part have said they were patriots who were misled.
More than 1,000 people have been charged with various assault, conspiracy, property damage, and restricted area offenses, official figures show. More than 500 have been convicted.
Former President Trump last month said that he would pardon a 'large portion' of those convicted of federal January 6 offenses if he was elected commander-in-chief again in 2024.
'I am inclined to pardon many of them,' Trump told a town hall gathering in New Hampshire.
'I can't say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.'
Days later, Trump's only serious challenger in the crowded field of Republicans seeking the party's nomination, Florida Gov DeSantis, dangled a similar offer before primary voters.
Speaking on a conservative talk radio show, DeSantis vowed to examine cases of January 6 rioters, pro-life activists and parents arrested over their actions at school board meetings, and be 'aggressive' in issuing pardons.
'We will use the pardon power — and I will do that at the front end,' said DeSantis.
He also said the Justice Department and the FBI had been 'weaponized' to target people from 'disfavored groups.'
The Department of Justice last month said that more than 1,030 people had been charged over the insurrection, and 570 had pleaded guilty.
The most common charges relate to entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds. Other charges include assaulting, resisting or impeding 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 jailed for 18 years in prison last month.
Jacob Chansley, 35, the so-called 'QAnon Shaman' who in September 2021 pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol, was released from prison in March, 14 months before his sentence was completed, in an apparent reduction for good behavior.
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