Trump promises to make 'major pardons' for Jan. 6 rioters who stormed the Capitol

WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday he's planning to issue “major pardons” for Jan. 6 defendants who stormed the Capitol four years ago.

“People that didn't even walk into the building are in jail right now. So we'll be looking at the whole thing but I'll be making major pardons, yes,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago home in South Florida when asked whether he was planning to pardon rioters charged with violent offenses.

It’s a move he’s previously signaled he would make. Trump’s latest remarks come a day after lawmakers gathered to witness the counting of the electoral votes and certify his victory in the 2024 presidential race.

Trump supporters in 2021 faced off with police officers and broke into the Capitol building in an attempt to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. More than 1,500 people tied to the attack have been charged with crimes, with more than 1,000 pleading guilty to either felonies or misdemeanors, according to the Justice Department .

Trump had previously called Jan. 6 rioters “warriors” and said at a rally in June that “there has never been people treated more horrifically than J6 hostages.”  In a December interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," the president-elect said he'd be looking at individual Jan. 6 cases for pardons and would act "very quickly," possibly as soon as Inauguration Day.

Democrats have opposed Trump’s plan to pardon the rioters.

“Donald Trump wants to whitewash the insurrection that occurred four years ago, but the American people know what they saw with their own eyes,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Monday.

“And now people who have been convicted of assaulting police officers, people who caused a riot that resulted in the death of police officers. Donald Trump says he wants to go ahead and just…treat it as if they are heroes. They're not heroes. They're insurrectionists,” she added.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump promises 'major pardons' for Jan. 6 rioters