GOP senators say they won’t fight Trump on Jan. 6 pardons

Republican senators who witnessed firsthand the Jan. 6, 2021, ransacking of congressional offices now say it’s up to President-elect Trump whether to pardon those protesters convicted of federal crimes.

They say that President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter Biden of all crimes he committed or may have committed over an 11-year span has opened the door for Trump to do what he wants to help supporters who stormed the Capitol four years ago.

And Senate Republicans also have decided to stand down on Trump’s declaration that the members of the House Jan. 6 Committee “should go to jail.”

With a battle brewing over Trump’s controversial Cabinet nominees, Republican senators have by and large decided to keep their powder dry on Jan. 6 pardons.

Senate Republicans say Trump will have unfettered power to pardon people convicted of federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

“As we found from Hunter Biden, the president’s pardon authority is pretty extensive. That’s obviously a decision he’ll have to make,” incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said of Trump’s pledge to pardon many of the protesters.

Thune declined to push back on Trump’s statement that members of the House Jan. 6 Committee — which included seven Democrats and then-Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) — “should go to jail.”

“I think with respect to the committee … if there’s something that needs to be looked at there, I’m sure the appropriate authorities will look at it. I don’t have a comment really on those statements,” Thune said.

Trump said in a recent interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would begin pardoning the protesters on “Day 1.”

More than 1,250 people have been convicted or have pleaded guilty for their actions on Jan. 6, and 645 have been sentenced to prison, according to the Justice Department.  

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Republican leadership team, said pardoning the Jan. 6 protesters is Trump’s “prerogative.”

“We’ve seen what President Biden did with his son, and presidents have that prerogative and it really doesn’t involve Congress,” he said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally, signaled he won’t try to stand in the way of Trump pardoning convicted Jan. 6 protesters but suggested people convicted of assaulting police officers shouldn’t receive clemency.

“We’ll see what he does. I mean it’s been four or five years [since the attack.] The ones that hurt cops, they’d be in a different category for me, but we’ll leave that up to him,” Graham said.

Graham seemed less concerned about protesters who entered the Capitol illegally on Jan. 6 and disrupted votes to certify Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

“We’ll see. That’s been four or five years [ago],” he said.

But Graham balked at the idea of sending House Jan. 6 Committee members to jail.

“I don’t see a reason for them to go to jail,” he said.

Senate Republican sentiments about pardoning people convicted of Jan. 6 crimes have softened since Trump swept all seven battleground states to win last month’s presidential election, bringing along Senate and House Republican majorities on his coattails.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in February 2022 he would not support pardons of rioters who forced senators and House members to flee their respective chambers in fear.

“I would not be in favor of shortening any of the sentences of any of the people who pleaded guilty to crimes,” McConnell said at the time.

Thune and Cornyn earlier this year pushed back on Trump’s characterization of people convicted of Jan. 6 crimes as “hostages.”

“I don’t condone that characterization at all, no,” Thune said in January when asked about Trump’s language.

Cornyn in January retorted: “Somebody’s who’s been duly convicted of a federal crime is not a hostage.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote to convict Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting insurrection in 2021, on Tuesday said he wants to see what exactly Trump will do.

“He said he would pardon some of them. I don’t know what ‘some of them’ means. And so I would just like to see what that means before I comment on them,” he said.

Cassidy in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this year noted that many people who were punished for their actions on Jan. 6 had admitted guilt.

“We’re a nation of laws, and those folks were convicted. Many times, they pled guilty. If you plead guilty, i.e., obviously you’re not a patriot,” Cassidy said.

Trump told NBC in an interview that aired Sunday his team is looking “right now” at pardoning Jan. 6 protesters.

“Those people have suffered long and hard. And there may be some exceptions to it. I have to look,” Trump said.

Cassidy, who is up for reelection in 2026, suggested it would make sense for Trump not to pardon people convicted of assaulting Capitol police officers.

“I’m suspecting he’s putting something in there for people whose actions were more egregious, but we’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

Trump for a long time has telegraphed his intention to pardon hundreds of people convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes, calling them “hostages.”

That terminology has angered some Republicans, such as Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence, who had to be rushed away from the Senate chamber by security officers on Jan. 6 as members of the angry crowd chanted “Hang Mike Pence.”

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson later testified that Trump told his staff at the time that Pence “deserves” it after he refused to use his position as the Senate’s presiding officer to stop the certification of the election.

Pence decided not to endorse Trump in the 2024 election.