Former United States (US) President Donald Trump, on Saturday, 29 January, suggested at a rally in Texas that if he won the 2024 presidential elections, he would use his presidential powers to pardon some of those charged for their role in the 6 January US Capitol insurrection, AFP reported.
The attack had occurred a little more than a year ago.
"If I run, and if I win we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly," the billionaire businessman-turned-politician told a huge gathering of people at the rally.
More than 700 people have been charged in relation to the attack in which a mob of thousands tried to stop the certification of the results of Trump's election defeat in the US Senate.
Trump had been repeatedly claiming that he won the election and incumbent president Joe Biden's victory was a consequence of electoral fraud.
No evidence has been found regarding the same.
More than 100 police officers were injured while they were defending the US Capitol during the insurrection.
At least seven civilians lost their lives in connection to the attack, according to the New York Times.
More than 700 people have been arrested as part of the investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The White House counsel from 1970 to 1973, who was aid to President Richard Nixon during the Watergate Scandal (after which the latter had to resign), responded to Trump on Twitter.
"This is beyond being a demagogue to the stuff of dictators. He is defying the rule of law. Failure to confront a tyrant only encourages bad behaviour. If thinking Americans don’t understand what Trump is doing and what the criminal justice system must do we are all in big trouble!"
(With inputs from NYT and AFP.)
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