Republicans are scrambling to respond to Trump’s Jan. 6 pardon of the accused just hours into his presidency

Washington
CNN
—

Republican senators scrambled to defend Donald Trump’s decision to commute and pardon hundreds of protesters on Jan. 6, including those charged and convicted of crimes against police officers, hours after the president took office on Monday.

Late. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who has previously warned against granting a blanket pardon to the rioters, said, “I just can’t agree” with Trump’s decision to commute the sentences or pardon a large chunk of the Jan. 6 riot . participants.

He added that the move “raises a legitimate security concern on Capitol Hill,” before also attacking former President Joe Biden’s pardons in his final hours in office.

Trump’s executive action, which many GOP senators had hoped would target only nonviolent offenders who entered the Capitol that day, thrust Republicans back into a familiar position of navigating how and when to distance themselves from the sitting president and leader of their party. And Republicans largely tried to sidestep direct questions about whether they personally agreed with Trump’s action, arguing that it was up to the president to use his pardon powers at his own discretion.

Trump pardoned more than 1,000 people accused of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He also commuted the sentences of 14 people in the Proud Boy or Oath Keepers who were accused of seditious conspiracy.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, dodged questions about the pardons, saying, “We’re looking at the future, not the past,” when asked if it was a mistake for Trump.

GOP senator criticizes Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons

GOP senator criticizes Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons

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The president’s move put Republican senators in the awkward position of having to either defy Trump just hours after he was sworn in at the US Capitol or defend the release of prisoners who attacked some of the very officers who protect the Capitol and members every day.

Late. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, told CNN he was still digesting the “details” of Trump’s pardons and pardons, but pressed on how some of the recipients were responsible for attacking police officers, he said: “I think if you attacking a police officer, that’s a very serious problem and they should pay a price for that.”

“I think we have to continue to say that we are a party of law and order,” Lankford said. “And it’s incredibly important to be able to protect the people who protect us every single day.”

Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, two Republicans who voted to convict Trump after his second impeachment in 2021, objected to his decision to grant a blanket pardon.

Cassidy, who is up for re-election and faces a primary, told CNN, “I’m a big ‘back-the-blue’ guy. I think people who assault police officers — if they commit the crime, they should do the time. ”

Murkowski said she is concerned about the message the pardons send to the US Capitol Police, who protect lawmakers every day.

“I don’t think the approach of a blanket pardon that includes those who caused harm, physical harm, to our police officers, to others that resulted in violence, I’m disappointed to see that,” Murkowski said. “And I fear the message that is being sent to these great men and women who stood by us.”

Most Republicans would not consider whether Trump had made the right decision. Late. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, argued that it was the president’s prerogative, not Congress’s, to issue pardons, a sentiment echoed by several others.

“I think obviously the pardon authority has really been opened up,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican. “Obviously, with his preemptive pardons, President Biden has opened it up even more so that the president has that authority. That’s kind of my take on it.”

Biden on Monday issued an extraordinary list of preemptive pardons to prominent critics of Trump and to members of his own family, using executive powers as a shield against retaliation by his would-be successor.

Late. Mike Rounds, another Republican from South Dakota, argued that Trump “has the constitutional ability to make them and so it’s up to him to do it. It’s not up to us and it’s up to him to explain you.”

Late. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine who has previously broken with Trump, claimed that overall it had been “a terrible week for our justice system” and argued that Biden had gone too far in his final hours as president with pardons.

“It seems to me that the press should be aware of this as well: Preemptive pardons for five more members of his family, and we got the next president to pardon people who committed violent crimes,” she said. “We also have the outgoing president granting a pardon to someone who killed two FBI agents.” (In addition to members of his family, Biden issued a commutation to Leonard Peltier, a Native activist convicted in the 1975 killing of two FBI agents.)

Late. Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana and former chairman of the Senate campaign arm, would only say, “I’m grateful that President Trump is the president of the United States,” when asked about his reaction to the pardons.

CNN’s Manu Raju, Morgan Rimmer and Ali Main contributed to this report.