JD Vance is facing a backlash from diehard supporters of Donald Trump after saying that people who committed violent offences during the January 6 riots should “obviously” not be pardoned by the incoming president.
Trump has promised to use his clemency powers to pardon many of those who stormed the Capitol four years ago in an attempt to overturn his election defeat to Joe Biden. Families and supporters of the rioters expect those still in jail to walk free when Trump returns to the White House next week.
In an interview on Sunday, however, Vance indicated that Trump would not issue blanket pardons for all those charged in connection with the riot, during which more than 100 police officers were injured. Members of Congress fled for their lives amid the violence, which climaxed in a siege at the doors of the House of Representatives where one Trump supporter was shot dead.
“If you protested peacefully on January 6 … you should be pardoned. If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” Vance told Fox News.
Vance’s comments have angered Make America Great Again (Maga) loyalists who have demanded pardons for all rioters, including those convicted of violent assaults on police officers, claiming they were the victims of unfair trials. Several January 6 protesters called Vance’s remarks a “betrayal”.
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Jake Lang, who has spent four years in jail accused of beating police officers during the riot, released a video from prison condemning Vance for “nitpicking between which ‘Jan Sixers’ can stay and which ones can go home”.
Lang, who has sought continuous delays to his trial, said he had been the victim of a “witch hunt” by the justice department, which had set out to “destroy our lives”.
• Will Trump pardon jailed January 6 rioters?
Luke Lints, who served a prison term for using a riot shield to push past police into the Capitol, posted a video on X saying that Vance “wasn’t there. He doesn’t know what happened … You’re not willing to stand with us, after we went through four years of hell … I want my freedom back.”
Social media posts have circulated comparing Vance to Mike Pence, Trump’s vice-president during his first term in office. Pence is loathed by hardline Maga supporters for refusing to block certification of the 2020 election result on the day of the riot. Some who marched on the Capitol chanted “Hang Mike Pence”.
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Vance responded to the criticism on Sunday, insisting that he had defended the January 6 prisoners “for years”.
“The president saying he’ll look at each case [and me saying the same] is not some walk-back,” Vance wrote on X. “I assure you, we care about people unjustly locked up. Yes, that includes people provoked and it includes people who got a garbage trial.”
During last year’s election campaign, Trump referred to the January 6 prisoners as “hostages” and said the riot was a “day of love”. In interviews since his victory in November, the president-elect has indicated that he will issue pardons to the rioters on “day one” of his administration.
“Most likely, I’ll do it very quickly,” Trump told NBC News recently, adding that “those people have suffered long and hard”.
He left room, however, to exclude those convicted of the most serious offences. The promise of pardons has provoked a storm of controversy that threatens to overshadow the start of his second term by recalling the most controversial day of his first. “There may be some exceptions to it. I have to look … you know, if somebody was radical, crazy,” he said.
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More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes over the siege. Hundreds of Trump supporters who did not engage in violence or destruction of property were charged only with misdemeanour offences for illegally entering the Capitol. Others were convicted of serious felonies, including assault charges for beating police officers.
Leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys far-right militias were convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to lengthy jail terms for plotting to use violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump’s plan to pardon the rioters was condemned last week by Thomas Manger, chief of the Capitol police. One officer, Brian Sicknick, was pepper-sprayed in the face during the violence and died in hospital the next day after suffering two strokes. Four more officers who were caught up in the riot later took their own lives.
Trump was indicted in 2023 over his hand in inciting the January 6 riot, but the case was dismissed in November after his election victory.
