Republican lawmakers are already shifting goalposts to justify Trump pardoning or commuting the sentences of nearly 1,600 January 6 insurrectionists—many of whom assaulted police officers, an issue Republicans hold near and dear.
When asked about the pardons, Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Tuesday pointed the finger at Joe Biden, stating that the former president opened the floodgates by pardoning his son Hunter, according to CNN’s Manu Raju.
“We’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forward,” Thune continued. “I think they were case-by-case.”
“I assume you’re asking me about the Biden pardons of his family,” said Senator Chuck Grassley, when asked by Semafor’s Burgess Everett. “I’m just talking about the Biden pardons, because that is so selfish.”
“I don’t know whether there were pardons given to individuals who assaulted police officers,” said Senator Susan Collins, “or whether there were pardons given to people who damaged property, who rummaged through desks, who broke windows in the Capitol. I disagree with those pardons if they were given.”
Pardons were indeed given to individuals who assaulted police officers. Senator Tommy Tuberville told Raju that he “didn’t see it,” referring to the pardons of people who attacked police officers.
Trump pardoned multiple Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, including one man who pepper-sprayed a Capitol Police officer and another who swung a baseball bat at one.