Mullin says some but not all Jan. 6 rioters deserve presidential pardons (2024)

U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin does not think all rioters who attacked police on Jan. 6, 2021, should be pardoned, he said Sunday, but he stopped just short of saying former President Donald Trump is of the same opinion.

“I believe President Trump will take a look at it and do what he thinks best, and he will do what’s right for the American people,” Mullin said on CNN’s State of the Union.

Mullin, then a member of the House of Representatives, was among those trapped in the House chamber when a mob invaded the U.S. Capitol that day. Mullin tried to persuade the mob to calm down and has consistently defended police and security.

But he has also consistently defended Trump, who some maintain instigated the attack. Trump’s repeated if somewhat ill-defined promises to pardon those convicted of crimes stemming from the attack if he is returned to the White House in November’s general election concerns some.

On Sunday, Mullin said: “If they attacked police officers, physically attacked police officers, then they need to serve their time.”

But Mullin said many people charged in the riot “got caught up in the movement” and were unfairly prosecuted.

“They were thrown into a court system that there was no way they were going to get a fair (trial),” Mullin said. “I believe President Trump is going to take a hard look at that. Those that were innocent, they should be re-looked at and hopefully pardoned.”

On a somewhat related matter, Mullin denied that Trump’s weekend attack on Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and his wife, Marty Argo, was related to Kemp’s refusal to help Trump “find” enough votes to win Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.

“You’re talking about something four years ago,” Mullin told host Dana Bash. “Let’s talk about this election. In this election cycle, Gov. Kemp came out and said he wasn’t voting for President Trump in the primary. That’s a problem. Kemp is in office because President Trump endorsed him. His wife and him knows that.”

Trump endorsed Kemp in 2018 but not in 2022. Kemp easily won reelection anyway.

A few minutes earlier, Mullin disputed Bash’s remark that Republicans lost the Senate at least in part because Trump’s outbursts in 2020 and 2022 cost the GOP Georgia’s two seats.

Those cases, Mullin said, were “not President Trump’s fault. Every single politician that’s out there, … they’re responsible for their own races. You’ve got to run your own races. That has nothing to do with President Trump.”

More than anything, Mullin seemed to see the situation in terms of loyalty.

“If you want to really dive into what’s happening with President Trump and Gov. Kemp, you’ll have to talk to them about that. I’m not involved in that,” he said. “But I do know it was personal with President Trump. When Kemp came out and aggressively sought President Trump’s endorsem*nt, (Kemp) chose to go away from him when President Trump needed him.

“And let me tell you, I’m a friend, and I’m a loyal friend. If a friend needs me, especially if they’ve done me a favor, I’m going to be all in for them,” Mullin continued. “I’m going to do everything possible to help them. I’m not going to play politics with it. That’s why President Trump and I get along so well. When I needed him, he was there.”

But Mullin also hinted that he might have a limit. Asked by Bash if that included overturning an election, Mullin replied, “That’s a totally separate issue.”

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