WATCH: Matt Gaetz Says He & Donald Trump Discussed Pardoning “Inadvertent Criminal Activity” By 1/6 Attackers Before Presidential Term Ended
Donald Trump has been pushing the possibility of pardons for some individuals accused in the January 6th attacks last year. Now, Matt Getz says they discussed it last year before Trump left office.
After a group of Oath Breakers anti-government militia members was charged with seditious conspiracy for their alleged roles in plotting the attack on the Capitol Building last year, Donald Trump suddenly began speaking openly about pardoning people who are “treated unfairly” in the prosecution process. Whether any take that as an offer of quid pro quo, to pardon those who don’t spill their guts to prosecutors for a plea deal, the idea is now out in the open — but Matt Gaetz assures us it’s not a new plan.
.@mattgaetz reveals that he spoke with Donald Trump about pardoning Jan. 6 insurrectionists:
“I recall discussing the potential for pardons…with President Trump in the final days of his presidency.” pic.twitter.com/qsk7bgBoPl
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) February 3, 2022
“I recall discussing the potential for pardons for the January 6th detainees with President Trump in the final days of his presidency. He contemplated pardons at that time for some folks who he thought might have been inadvertently drawn into criminal conduct without even knowing so…”
This is an interesting take, considering that after the attack, Gaetz claimed that participants were actually secretly anitfa, tweeting out a Washington Times article asserting that antifa ‘members’ had been identified in the crowd by facial recognition software.
"Facial recognition firm claims Antifa infiltrated Trump protesters who stormed Capitol"https://t.co/RbDjqALbUt
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 7, 2021
That article has since been updated to clarify that the entire premise is in fact false:
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that XRVision facial recognition software identified Antifa members among rioters who stormed the Capitol Wednesday. XRVision did not identify any Antifa members. The Washington Times apologizes to XRVision for the error.
However, Gaetz has since shifted to blaming the FBI, claiming that agents tricked Trump supporters (who showed up with weapons and body armor, and had caches of firearms waiting with quick response teams to join the attack) into storming the Capitol Building.
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