Trump vows to pardon Jan. 6 defendants on 'Day One.' Are there exceptions?

In his first sit-down broadcast interview since the Nov. 5 election, President-elect Donald Trump said he would begin pardoning rioters who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on "Day One."

“I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases,” Trump said in his “Meet the Press” interview, which aired on Sunday.

In what has been billed as America’s largest-ever criminal investigation, at least 1,572 defendants have been charged in the Jan. 6 attack, according to Reuters, with crimes ranging from unlawfully entering restricted grounds to seditious conspiracy and violent assault.

Of that total, more than 1,251 have been convicted or pleaded guilty and 645 have been sentenced to prison, with punishments ranging from a few days to 22 years, according to the latest data from the Justice Department.

Did Trump promise to pardon everyone charged with a crime on Jan. 6?

Trump told moderator Kristen Welker that he planned to issue the pardons “very quickly,” starting on his first day in office which begins Jan. 20.

There could be “some exceptions” to his pardons, Trump said, if an individual had acted “radical” or “crazy” during the assault. He then referred to debunked claims that some members of Antifa and law enforcement officers had infiltrated the crowd.

Welker asked Trump whether the 900 people who had already pled guilty, including those who assaulted police officers, would be considered for pardons.

Trump would not rule them out, saying “they had no choice” but to attack the officers.

Trump argued that “a very nasty system” caused many of the defendants to plead guilty, saying that the prisoners were given unfair plea deals and that their “whole lives have been destroyed.”

Trump’s continued support echoes his rhetoric on the campaign trail. He repeatedly referred to Jan. 6 defendants as “political prisoners” and “hostages” during his re-election campaign. The former president even featured a song by the “J6 Prison Choir,” a group of men imprisoned for their participation in the attack on the Capitol, at his first 2024 campaign rally.

Where do the Jan. 6 convictions stand now?

The Justice Department notes that of the 900 people who have pled guilty, 321 defendants have pleaded guilty to felonies. Among those felonies, 170 pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement; 128 to obstructing law enforcement during a riot; 69 to assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous or deadly weapon; and four to seditious conspiracy.

According to a report by NBC News, existing cases against Jan. 6 defendants are expected to continue until President Joe Biden leaves office on Jan. 20. Shortly after the election, federal prosecutors in the Justice Department’s Capitol Siege Section received guidance to proceed with pending cases, trials, sentencing hearings, and plea agreement hearings.

The guidance instructed prosecutors to “focus on the most egregious conduct and cases until the end of the administration,” including those who have yet to be arrested for assault on a law enforcement officer.

Jake Lang, a New York man who was charged with assaulting police officers and has been held in jail before trial, told Reuters he was hopeful he would be swept up in a blanket pardon.

“I think on January 20, 2025 we are going to see a similar situation to Hunter Biden,” Lang said in a phone interview. “Everybody’s pardoned, full exoneration. Get them all out of prison and get this thing over with, so that we can start the national healing process."

Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.

Melissa Cruz is an elections reporting fellow who focuses on voter access issues for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter, at @MelissaWrites22.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump vows to pardon Jan. 6 defendants. Does that mean everyone?