Trump said one of his first acts if he wins the election would be to pardon the insurrectionists convicted of carrying out the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He refers to them as “hostages” in Truth Social posts and campaign speeches. People who threw flagpoles at the U.S. Capitol officers like spears, sprayed the officers with bear spray, broke windows and doors at the Capitol and wanted to overthrow an election are not hostages. They should not be freed. The people who attacked U.S. Capitol police are criminals. These people received full due process of law, had fair, public trials, and were convicted by juries or pleaded guilty.
Trump has not indicated that a single one of them, no matter how horrible their actions, would remain in jail. These insurrectionists weren’t boy scouts. Many of them acted violently with the intention of overturning the election, contrary to the U.S. Constitution. Some of them wanted to hang VP Pence and might have done so, given the chance. These people should serve their full sentences because they committed crimes. In many cases they were violent crimes and crimes that were intended to flip an election. The man that would be dictator, whether for a day or longer, encouraged these people and now wants to treat them as if they were heroes. They were not. And he should not be president.
Corey Belobrow
Concord