DeSantis Open to Pardoning Trump, January 6 Rioters ‘Day One’ in Office

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis revealed he’s open to pardoning former President Donald Trump and January 6 Capitol rioters should he become president. 

In a Thursday appearance on the “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” podcast, DeSantis was asked if a Republican president should review the prosecution of January 6 defendants and possibly Trump himself. 

“The DOJ and FBI have been weaponized,” DeSantis said, revealing he will have a “day one” pardon policy to review recent prosecutions that may be politically motivated.

Some may have violated the law, but if Black Lives Matter protesters made the same violated and weren't prosecuted, he said, "that is an uneven application of justice."

“I will have folks that will get together and look at all these cases where people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we will be aggressive at issuing pardons. Now, some of these cases, some people may have a technical violation of the law,” the Florida governor said. “But if there are three other people who did the same thing, but just in a context like BLM and they don’t get prosecuted at all, that is uneven application of justice.”

The governor did not specifically mention Trump in his answer, but Travis followed up by asking if Trump would be included in cases that could potentially be reviewed for a pardon. 

“I would say any example of disfavored treatment based on politics or weaponization would would be included in that review, no matter how small or how big,” DeSantis said.  

The governor's comments came hours after he announced his 2024 candidacy through Twitter Spaces.