Sen. Lisa Murkowski today denounced the pardons made by President Donald Trump for the protesters who overwhelmed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when the Senate was certifying the election of Joe Biden as president. Over the past day, many of them have now been released from prison.
“The Capitol Police officers are the backbone of Congress— every day they protect and serve the halls of democracy. I strongly denounce the blanket pardons given to the violent offenders who assaulted these brave men and women in uniform,” Murkowski said.
She told reporters, “I don’t think that the approach of a blanket pardon that includes those who caused harm, physical harm to our police officers, to others, that resulted in violence — I’m disappointed to see that. And I do fear the message that is sent to these great men and women who stood by us.”
Murkowski was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment, a vote that occurred after Trump was no longer president. She has long been an adversary of Trump and takes every opportunity to oppose him.
Several of the J-6ers, as they are now known, have stated over the past 24 hours that they were innocent all along, but had been forced to make false confessions for crimes they did not commit, in exchange for not being imprisoned.
Brandon Straka is one of those who cut a deal based on false information. His probation period was to end this week. But then came the pardon, and now that he is free, he is able to open up about what had actually happened to him and how the FBI lied.
“If Donald Trump had not been elected, I would never have felt truly safe to tell the TRUTH about how the FBI & DOJ lied in my J6 case, and drafted a phony story for my plea agreement-and how the DC judges enabled it. Thank you, to @realDonaldTrump, and thank you to the American people for voting for my liberation and the liberation of hundreds of others,” he said on Newsmax.
In 2021, Congressman Don Young, who was in the Capitol, said that the protesters at the Capitol were not engaged in an insurrection.
Some protesters, however, grew violent in the heat on the moment on that day, when it appeared to many Americans that the election had been stolen by Democrats. Some did battle Capitol Police outside the building, while others clearly were ushered into the building by Capitol Police. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had refused the offer of National Guardsmen made by President Trump prior to the event that day.
But the protesters at the Capitol were not the murderers and pedophiles that former President Joe Biden had just pardoned.
Many, whose last names are not Murkowski, viewed the J-6ers as political prisoners.
Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana said, “Any Republican who opposes the President’s Executive orders delivering promised rescue to American political prisoners doesn’t know a damned thing about the individual J6 cases. I do, because I’ve been investigating FBI/DOJ persecution of conservative citizens since 2020. These Americans were destroyed in every way. Physically, emotionally, financially. Families disintegrated, businesses and reputations destroyed, months or years of solitary confinement 23 hrs per day under brutal conditions, heavy, daily violations of civil rights while incarcerated. Pardon can never make these Americans whole again, and shame be upon our Republic for having targeted, entrapped, investigated, prosecuted, incarcerated and tortured these American victims of political agenda.”
Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee said, “Legacy media will spend the next four years talking about J6 pardons while their President pardoned pedophiles and murderers. Do not let them lecture you on morality.”
Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona said, “The J6 prisoners were held for years without trials while Biden welcomed violent foreign criminals into America and weaponized the DOJ. @realDonaldTrump did the right thing by pardoning these individuals. We will continue applying peaceful pressure for their immediate release.”
“Now that the J6 pardons have been issued, I can tell you guys that the FBI harassed my family for the last three years simply because I was near the Capitol perimeter on that day. Four FBI agents interrogated a family member as recently as June 2024. Have fun being unemployed!,” said Ashley St. Clair, who was only near the Capitol that day, but still suffered from the political attacks.
After former President Joe Biden pardoned his son in December, Murkowski criticized those actions as well: “Setting aside the fact that President Biden repeatedly stated he would not pardon his son, what I find most troubling is the sweeping nature of this pardon. Not only is Hunter Biden receiving clemency for multiple felony offenses—for crimes of which he was convicted and pleaded guilty to—he is also being granted immunity from any crimes he ‘has committed or may have committed’ over a more than ten-year period. This decision makes a mockery of our justice system. Everyone must be held accountable for their actions under the law.”
