Trump promises pardon for Jan 6 rioters on his first day

In his first network TV interview since his electoral victory, President-elect Donald Trump went through a range of his campaign promises, including those on immigration, health care, and his plans for the Justice Department in an interview with NBC News.

Trump doubled down on one of them, vowing to pardon people jailed for their role on Jan. 6 on his first day in office.

"First day. Yeah, I'm looking for these pardons," Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press."

Criticizing the jail conditions, Trump argued the people who plead guilty did so because they had no other choice.

"Look. I know the system. The system's a very corrupt system. They say to a guy, 'You're going to go to jail for two years or for 30 years.' And these guys are looking, their whole lives have been destroyed," said Trump.

"Yeah, I'm going to look at everything. We're going to look at individual cases."

According to the Department of Justice, more than 1,500 people have been arrested or charged in connection with Jan. 6 with almost 900 of them pleading guilty.

As one of his campaign's main themes, Trump long promised to "free" those imprisoned for their participation on that day as one of his first acts as president, oftentimes honoring them at his campaign rallies.

Trump's pardon promise comes as he offered fluctuating comments on the role his picks for attorney general and FBI director, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, would play in his upcoming administration should they be confirmed.

On the issue of retribution, which was a central theme in Trump's 2024 campaign, the president-elect repeatedly said he wouldn't direct them to go after his political rivals, but they could if they wanted to.

"She's very experienced," he said of Bondi. "I want her to do what she wants to do. I'm not going to instruct her" to go after Special Counsel Jack Smith, who he called a "very corrupt" person.

"If they think that somebody was dishonest or crooked or corrupt politician, I think he probably has an obligation to do it," the president-elect said about Patel investigating Trump's rivals.

Patel has long called for investigations into members of the media, Department of Justice, and Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, calling for a "housecleaning." Although Trump argued he wouldn't directly tell Bondi and Patel to go after people, he was clear that they would have free range to do so.

Aside from attacking Biden and Smith, Trump also harshly criticized the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6, calling for members to be jailed.

"[Former Rep. Liz] Cheney was behind it. So is Benny Thompson and everybody on that committe, honestly, they should go to jail."

Again, though, Trump looked to move that decision away from himself when asked if he would direct Bondi to throw them in jail.

"I think that they'll have to look at that. But I'm not going to. I'm going to focus on 'Drill, baby, drill.'"

Former Rep. Liz Cheney responded Sunday to Trump's comments, calling them a "continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic."

"There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting – a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee – and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct," she said in a statement.

Given that Trump has continued these threats throughout his campaign and now during the transition, Biden is considering preemptive pardons to some of those that have received Trump's wrath, including Cheney and Democratic Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, who were part of the House Jan. 6 investigation, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has faced intense scrutiny over the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When asked about those possible pardons from Biden, Trump told NBC "maybe he should."

"Biden can give them a pardon if he wants to. And maybe he should," he said, going on to continue to attack their investigation.