Despite his boss' promises, Vice President-elect JD Vance told Fox News Sunday that Capitol rioters who committed violence on Jan. 6, 2021, should not receive a presidential pardon. "I think it's very simple, look, if you protested peacefully on January 6th, and you had Merrick Garland's Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned," Vance said, per Politico. "If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned. And there's a little bit of a gray area there." President-elect Trump has said he'd pardon convicted rioters as soon as he takes office—"first day," he said last month.
Vance said that many people were prosecuted unfairly and that "We need to rectify that." He posted a series of claims about the prosecutions last week that CNN reported to be false, including that dozens of protesters are jailed in the District of Columbia who have never been charged. More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes in the attack that injured more than 100 police officers, per the AP. Vance backed up Trump on other issues, including mass deportations and acquiring Greenland, which he noted "has a lot of great natural resources."
Vance came in for criticism online after the Fox interview aired Sunday from people who thought he wasn't enthusiastic enough about pardons for the rioters. "I assure you, we care about people unjustly locked up," Vance posted on X in response. "Yes, that includes people provoked and it includes people who got a garbage trial." (More JD Vance stories.)