Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is not opposed to Donald Trump pardoning the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters despite calling the events that day an insurrection.
During an interview on ‘Meet the Press‘ Sunday, host Kristen Welker asked Ernst if she is opposed to pardoning those who are serving time for storming the Capitol.
“I am not opposed to that,” Ernst said. “That is a president’s prerogative. And so if former President Donald Trump is elected as our next president, he does have the right to do that.”
Pressed on whether she would support pardoning Capitol rioters despite more than 700 of them pleading guilty to crimes relating to the insurrection, Ernst said: “I am not saying that I would support pardoning them, but that is a president’s prerogative to do so. We have seen many presidents through the years that have pardoned many others. And so if Donald Trump chooses to do that as our next president of the United States, again, that will be his decision.”
“These are people, though, who attacked the building that you are in. You called them, “Insurrectionists,” at the time. Would you not counsel Mr. Trump against pardoning them?” Welker asked.
“No. I did not call them, “insurrectionists.” I don’t remember using that term,” Ernst said.
While Ernst never called the rioters insurrectionists, she referred to the Jan.6 Capitol riot as an insurrection in an op-ed published in the Des Moines Register.
“I’m furious. This is not the America that I know, that I love, and that I fought for,” Ernst wrote days after the insurrection. “Peaceful protest is a fundamental freedom that Americans are able to enjoy — one that I worked to defend in my 23 years in the military, and that I proudly support. But storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to influence elected officials — an insurrection as many have called it — is not, and will never be, a peaceful protest. It is anarchy — and America and her people cannot stand for it in any form.”
