Global Courant
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a rare comment on Tuesday about the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol two years ago, which he has previously condemned while suggesting they were over-covered.
At an event in Hollis, New Hampshire, the GOP presidential candidate was asked by a 15-year-old audience member if he believed Trump “violated the peaceful transfer of power.”
DeSantis highlighted the electoral danger, as he put it, in “re-litigating things that happened three years ago” before saying, “I wasn’t anywhere near Washington that day. I have nothing to do with what happened that day happened. Obviously I didn’t like to see what happened, but we have to move on with these things.”
“If this election is about (President Joe) Biden’s failures and our vision for the future, then we’re going to win. When it comes to re-litigating things that happened three years ago, we’re going to lose,” he said, adding, “I can tell you this: I can direct you to Tallahassee, Florida, on, I believe, January 5 . , 2023. We had a peaceful transition of power from my first administration to my second because I won re-election in a historic way. And at the end of the day, you know, we’ve got to win, and we’ve got to get this done.
“We can’t look back and get caught up in the past,” he said.
In the hours following the 2021 riot, which occurred as Congress convened to ratify Biden’s electoral defeat of Donald Trump, DeSantis condemned the “unacceptable” actions of the rioters, saying: “The perpetrators must face the full weight of the law .”
“It doesn’t matter what flag you fly – the violence is wrong, the rioting and disorder is wrong,” he later told reporters.
More than 300 people were charged that day with assaulting, resisting or obstructing officers or employees, the Justice Department said, and more than 100 defendants were charged with using deadly weapons.
About 140 police officers were attacked on Jan. 6, according to DOJ
In 2022, DeSantis reiterated that lawbreakers should be held “accountable,” but scoffed at the continued coverage of the uprising, likened January 6 to “Christmas” to “DC-New York media” and suggested the attention was a way to get Trump- attacking supporters as she deviates from the problems facing the Biden administration.
Republican presidential nominee Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a campaign rally on June 26, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
“If they try to act like that, it’s like the September 11 attacks, that’s an insult to the people who went into those buildings,” DeSantis said. “And it’s an insult to people when you say it’s an ‘insurrection’ and then a year later no one has been accused of it.” (Several people have since been found guilty of seditious conspiracy.)
When reelection opponent Charlie Crist criticized DeSantis for, he claimed, not calling out the events of January 6 more forcefully, a spokeswoman for the governor said told PolitiFact last year: “Gov. DeSantis stands for law and order. He has always condemned all riots and illegal conduct, regardless of political affiliation.”
However, in the days following the launch of DeSantis’ presidential campaign this year, he seemed to leave open the possibility of pardoning rioters who have been convicted, even though he did not name any specific January 6 cases.
“A big part of the presidency is clemency powers. Do you think the January 6 defendants deserve to have their case investigated by a Republican president?’ he was asked during an interview on “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” in May.
“We will be aggressive[in]granting pardons,” he said, arguing that the Justice Department and FBI had become “armed” to pursue political goals rather than law enforcement.
DeSantis said that “what I’m going to do is – I’m going to do on the first day – I’m going to have people get together and look at all these things, who are people, who are victims of guns or political targets.”
He went on to say “we will use the clemency”, but “on a case by case basis”.
