Former President Trump reiterated a promise on Wednesday to pardon Jan. 6 rioters if he returns to the White House. "Oh, absolutely I would," Trump told ABC News' Rachel Scott during the National Association of Black Journalists' conference in Chicago. "If they are innocent, I would pardon them." Scott, who was questioning Trump, drew laughs from the crowd as she quickly noted, "They've been convicted," per NBC News. More than 1,000 people have been found guilty of crimes connected to the Jan. 6 attack during Trump's final days in office. Trump himself is charged with plotting to overthrow the 2020 election.
Trump has previously called the rioters "patriots" and "hostages." In response to Scott, he claimed "they were convicted by a very tough system." When Scott noted 140 officers had been assaulted, Trump shifted focus, claiming there had been a "horrible attack on the Capitol" just last week when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress. There was no attack on the Capitol that day, though pro-Palestinian demonstrators allegedly assaulted police during a protest at Columbus Circle. "They viciously attacked our government, they fought with police, they fought with them much more openly than I saw on Jan. 6," Trump said. Four of those protesters were charged with assaulting police, per HuffPost.
An ABC News investigation over the course of months found "rewriting the history" of Jan. 6 is "one of the touchstones" of Trump's campaign. "Some are seeking to echo his message on far-right media and even the campaign trail, trying to paint January 6 not as a violent attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election, but as a peaceful demonstration," the outlet notes. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Trump claimed "those who broke the law" would "pay," per the New Republic. But within a year, he said he was looking at "full pardons with an apology." (More Donald Trump stories.)
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