President Donald Trump defended the pardons he issued to January 6 participants in his first interview since returning to the presidency.
“They were very minor incidents, and it was time,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview held at the Oval Office.
Shortly after being sworn in on Monday, Trump signed an executive order that pardoned roughly 1,500 people who were involved in the January 6 Capitol riot. The order also commuted the sentences of 14 other individuals, which included members of two far-right extremist groups, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.
“They were treated like the worst criminals in history. And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote, because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote,” Trump told Hannity.
The January 6 Capitol riots left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer. Some of the pro-Trump rioters were armed with wooden sticks and metal pipes when they descended on the Capitol. Trump has maintained his claim that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” although no evidence has been found to justify it.
During the pre-taped interview that aired Wednesday evening, Trump repeated many of the talking points he shared in his inaugural address and throughout his campaign, criticizing former President Joe Biden for his handling of the southern border, crime, and the war in Ukraine.
“They are all solvable. With time, effort, money, unfortunately. But they are all solvable,” Trump said. “Probably we can get our country back, but if we didn’t win this race, I really believe our country would have been lost forever.”
When asked about the preemptive pardons issued by President Joe Biden, including for some Biden family members, Trump said it set an “amazing” precedent.
“This guy went around giving everybody pardons. And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing is he didn’t give himself a pardon,” Trump said of Biden.
Trump also said in the interview that he planned to visit North Carolina, which was hit by Hurricane Helene last year, on Friday and then California, which was hit by several wildfires earlier this month. He also criticized California’s response to the fires as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“FEMA is going to be a whole big discussion very shortly because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” Trump said.
More of the interview is set to air on Fox News on Thursday evening.
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