A longtime backer of President Donald Trump, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, said Sunday that he thinks the new president’s choice to pardon January 6 defendants was a “mistake.”
“Pardoning the people who went into the Capitol and beat up a police officer violently I think was a mistake, because it seems to suggest that’s an OK thing to do,” Graham said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Graham went on to connect Trump’s pardons of violent criminals to former President Joe Biden’s choice to pardon a number of members of his family in the final hours of his presidency.
“You know, Biden pardoned half his family going out the door. I think most Americans, if this continues … will revisit the pardon power of the president if this continues,” Graham added. “As to pardoning violent people who beat up cops, I think that’s a mistake.”
California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said Biden was “wrong” to hand down the pardons.
“What it says now to the Trump family and to President Trump’s kids: they can engage in any kind of malfeasance, criminality, graft, whatever, and they can expect a pardon on the way out the door. That is not a message you want to send to this family, or really any family occupying the White House,” Schiff said on Meet the Press.
On his first day in office on Monday, Trump pardoned about 1,500 people convicted or who pleaded guilty to criminal acts in connection to the attack on the Congressional complex. More than 140 police officers were injured during the riot.
Graham still noted that Trump was fulfilling a campaign promise with the pardons.
“There are a lot of people who supported President Trump — law enforcement — [that] didn’t like this, but he said it during the campaign. He’s not tricking people,” said Graham.
“I’ll be consistent here. I don’t like the idea of bailing people out of jail or pardoning people who burn down cities and beat up cops, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat,” he added.
Former New Jersey Governor and 2016 and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday and similarly blasted the president for the pardons.
He said Biden’s pardons were “disgraceful” but that Trump’s were even worse, adding that the two are the most selfish men to occupy the Oval Office.
“Look, I think the pardons by Joe Biden were disgraceful, and I think Donald Trump has taken it to another level as well,” said Christie. “These are the two most selfish politicians in the presidency in my lifetime. Joe Biden pardoning his family proves it, and Donald Trump trying to whitewash January 6th proves it.”
