Josh Hawley says Trump shouldn’t issue blanket pardon of Jan. 6 defendants

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on Tuesday said that he would not support a blanket pardon for those convicted for attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6 as former President Donald Trump makes the violent siege a cornerstone of his reelection bid.

“If it’s a blanket thing, wipe it all away, I do not agree with that,” Hawley, a Republican, told reporters, adding that those who broke the law or assaulted police officers should be prosecuted.

Hawley made the comments in Jefferson City after officially filing for reelection to the U.S. Senate with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday. Hawley was asked whether he supported Trump’s suggestion that those convicted in the Capitol attack were “hostages” and whether he agreed with the former president’s plan to pardon them.

“I will support your right to free speech. I will support your right to protest peacefully” Hawley said. “I will not support anybody who breaks the law and commits acts of violence.”

The Republican senator, who was widely criticized for raising his fist to protestors the morning of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, went on to criticize the U.S. Department of Justice for what he claimed were different standards of justice for those prosecuted for the Jan. 6 attack and people associated with the Black Lives Matter movement who are charged with crimes.

“There ought to be one standard here,” Hawley said on Tuesday. “One standard for BLM protesters, one standard for Jan. 6 protesters, one standard for every kind of protest.”

Barring a major shakeup in the race, the Republican senator is widely expected to hold onto his seat in the upcoming election as Missouri has grown staunchly Republican over the past decade. Polling released last week from Saint Louis University and British pollster YouGov found that 50% of those surveyed supported Hawley while 41% disapproved.

Hawley has consistently said he believes that people who broke the law when entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 should be punished by the courts. But he has also suggested that some of the defendants may not have done much wrong and sells mugs with an illustrated photo of him raising his fist to the protesters who later stormed the Capitol that day.

“You’ve got people saying I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be in here,” Hawley said last March. “They didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t assault anybody. They didn’t engage in any acts of violence. They stayed within the velvet rope lines or whatever. And they’ve been charged with trespass.”

Both judges and juries in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia have largely disagreed. At least 31 people from Missouri have been charged for crimes related to their actions on Jan. 6, 2021 according to the Department of Justice, most of whom have either taken plea deals or have been found guilty.

That includes people who did not appear to be violent on Jan. 6, 2021, like Isaac Yoder. He entered the Capitol while dressed like a Revolutionary War soldier and claimed he did not know that the Capitol had been closed for nearly a year. He was found guilty on four counts and was sentenced to a year in prison.

While Trump briefly denounced people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, saying “to those who broke the law, you will pay,” his messaging has swiftly changed over the past three years.

Now, Trump has called the people found guilty for their role on Jan. 6, 2021 “hostages” and “patriots.” He has played a version of the national anthem sung by people held in jail for their role in the attack.

In brief comments after filing for reelection, Hawley painted a picture of a country in chaos, pointing to the southern border with Mexico, crime “in every major city,” and concerns about the threat of China to U.S. jobs. The Republican senator used the word “chaos” five times in his opening remarks.

“This country is in chaos. It is a total, complete lack of leadership. It begins at the top with Joe Biden,” he said. “It’s time to rebuild this nation.”

Hawley is so far the only Republican to file for the seat. Democrats Lucas Kunce, December Harmon and Karla May have also filed to run for U.S. Senate. An independent candidate, Jared Young, is attempting to get on the ballot as an independent candidate.