WASHINGTON — Sen. Lisa Murkowski has condemned President Trump’s pardons of some 1,600 people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, making her one of the few Republicans in Congress willing to speak out against them.
“The Capitol Police officers are the backbone of Congress— every day they protect and serve the halls of democracy,” she wrote in a social media post Wednesday. “I strongly denounce the blanket pardons given to the violent offenders who assaulted these brave men and women in uniform.”
In a hallway interview with reporters at the Capitol Wednesday, she said she was disturbed that the pardons were so comprehensive, and she emphasized the impact on Capitol Police.
“I think our many friends, the fine men and women who serve us in this building, who have had decades of service and commitment to be here to protect us, to protect this institution — I think many of them feel very violated by this,” she said. “And I worry for that.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan declined multiple interview requests this week to talk about the pardons.
“We’ll send you a – whatever questions you have we’ll send you a statement,” he said Wednesday as he hurried to an elevator from the Senate basement.
A Sullivan aide emailed a statement. It said that Biden’s pardons and commutations were worse than Trump’s.
“I don’t know the details of each of the 1,600 individual cases—how long defendants have served related to the severity of their offense. So I won’t comment on the specifics,” his statement went on to say. “In general, however, as I have said since January 6—and as Vice President Vance said as recently as last week—if someone committed acts of violence against law enforcement officers, they should be held accountable.”
Alaska Congressman Nick Begich said many of the Jan. 6 defendants were non-violent. When asked about Trump’s decision to pardon people who had assaulted police officers, Begich also raised Biden’s use of the pardon power.
“I think for those folks that President Trump chose to pardon, you know, they've served their time. They've met their obligations within his capacity to make those pardons,” Begich said Tuesday. “I mean, I think we saw some very controversial and concerning, frankly, last-minute pardons for Joe Biden's personal family members.”
Begich said the Constitution gives the president the power to pardon people at his discretion.
“And I think that many people will agree — me among them — that those 1,500 folks, by and large, deserve to be pardoned,” Begich said.
Meanwhile, some of the Jan. 6 attackers were back at the Capitol on Wednesday.
Reporters snapped photos of Stewart Rhodes eating lunch in the basement cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building. Rhodes had been serving 18 years for seditious conspiracy until Trump commuted his sentence on Monday.
Some of the officers who were attacked four years ago told reporters they’re horrified to see their assailants back in the buildings they serve in.
“I was beaten, crushed, kicked, punched, surrounded. Someone reached underneath my visor, tried to gouge out my eye,” said Capitol Police Officer Daniel Hodge, whom the Jan. 6 mob crushed in a doorway in a widely seen video.
“The people who attacked us on Jan. 6 are free now they can try it again, and they'll know if they try it again the next four years, they know they'll get pardoned again,” he said.
Hodges was off-duty as he spoke to reporters and said he’d just finished four 12-hour work days at the Capitol, to ensure Trump’s inauguration was peaceful.
Some critics of the pardons said Trump has effectively unleashed a militia of people who’ve proven they’re willing to commit violence in his name.
Murkowski has more than once angered Trump and his supporters. Still, she said, even with the pardons, she’s not worried she’ll be a target of political violence.
“This is the United States of America,” she said. “Whether I am a United States senator or a citizen of Alaska, I have to believe that I am going to be free to speak my views without fear of political retribution or fear of harm.”
