Ron DeSantis on Thursday suggested he might use his pardon power as president to offer clemency to Jan. 6 defendants or even Trump
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was asked on Thursday about potentially using his pardon power if elected president to offer clemency to Jan. 6 defendants or even Donald Trump — and while he didn’t answer directly, he suggested he would consider it.
DeSantis made his comments while appearing on the “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” amid an early media blitz one day after launching a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
“A big part of being president is pardon powers. Do you think the Jan. 6 defendants deserve to have their cases examined by a Republican president? And if Trump, let’s say, gets charged with federal offenses and you are the president of the United States, would you look at potentially pardoning Trump himself based on the evidence that might emerge of those charges?” Travis asked DeSantis.
The governor did not mention either Trump or any specific Jan. 6 cases by name but suggested he was open to the idea.
“We will be aggressive [in] issuing pardons,” he said, arguing that the Department of Justice and FBI had become “weaponized” to pursue political rather than law enforcement goals.
Late last year, Attorney General Merrick Garland named an independent prosecutor to oversee the DOJ investigations of Trump, saying then that it “underscores the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters.”
DeSantis’ remarks about pardons come on the same day a federal judge handed down thelongest sentence to date for a Jan. 6 crime.
Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges.
