Also notable from that interview, Johnson specifically says that only some rioters should be released. (sorry, I don't know how to format this)
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. Let me ask you about the pardons Mr. Trump has promised for January 6th defendants. When I interviewed him last month, he would not rule out pardoning those, even those who pl…
Also notable from that interview, Johnson specifically says that only some rioters should be released. (sorry, I don't know how to format this)
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. Let me ask you about the pardons Mr. Trump has promised for January 6th defendants. When I interviewed him last month, he would not rule out pardoning those, even those who pleaded guilty to violent crimes. Mr. Speaker, *do you believe that someone who assaulted a law enforcement officer on January 6th deserves a pardon?*
SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON:
*No.* I think what the president said and Vice-President-elect JD Vance has said is that peaceful protesters should be pardoned, but violent criminals should not. That's a simple determination. It's up to the president on that. But there's been a lot of talk about it. But we'll see what happens.
[AND]
KRISTEN WELKER:
President-elect Trump, just to be clear, has said he's going to look at everyone. When I interviewed him, he said he's not ruling out anyone. *So, my question for you, would you oppose a pardon for someone who has pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer?*
SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON:
*Look, every case needs to be evaluated, as he said.* But what President Trump is getting at is the lack of faith that people have right now in our system of justice. It was abused for the last few years, under the last four years under the Biden administration. The Department of Justice itself was weaponized. When the people lose their faith in our system of justice, that is what leads to all these other concerns. And President Trump's going to restore that. We're going to have new leadership.
He's definitely being non-committal, but hard to read "No" as a celebration of pardoning violent rioters. He leans a lot on not having evaluated each of the 1500 cases individually.
If you prefer to read the entire transcript, rather than isolated clips with commentary, you can do so here:
Also notable from that interview, Johnson specifically says that only some rioters should be released. (sorry, I don't know how to format this)
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. Let me ask you about the pardons Mr. Trump has promised for January 6th defendants. When I interviewed him last month, he would not rule out pardoning those, even those who pleaded guilty to violent crimes. Mr. Speaker, *do you believe that someone who assaulted a law enforcement officer on January 6th deserves a pardon?*
SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON:
*No.* I think what the president said and Vice-President-elect JD Vance has said is that peaceful protesters should be pardoned, but violent criminals should not. That's a simple determination. It's up to the president on that. But there's been a lot of talk about it. But we'll see what happens.
[AND]
KRISTEN WELKER:
President-elect Trump, just to be clear, has said he's going to look at everyone. When I interviewed him, he said he's not ruling out anyone. *So, my question for you, would you oppose a pardon for someone who has pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer?*
SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON:
*Look, every case needs to be evaluated, as he said.* But what President Trump is getting at is the lack of faith that people have right now in our system of justice. It was abused for the last few years, under the last four years under the Biden administration. The Department of Justice itself was weaponized. When the people lose their faith in our system of justice, that is what leads to all these other concerns. And President Trump's going to restore that. We're going to have new leadership.
He's definitely being non-committal, but hard to read "No" as a celebration of pardoning violent rioters. He leans a lot on not having evaluated each of the 1500 cases individually.
If you prefer to read the entire transcript, rather than isolated clips with commentary, you can do so here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-january-19-2025-n1311375
You could also read Politico, which describes Johnson as wary of pardoning those protesters.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/01/21/congress/johnson-pardons-00199701
This might be a more reasonable way to describe the statements like the ones above.