President-elect says he will \u2018act quickly\u2019, claiming convicted Capitol rioters had been put through a \u2018very nasty system\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his first sit-down television news interview since winning a second presidency in November\u2019s election, Donald Trump<\/a> renewed promises to pardon his supporters involved in the attack on the US Capitol in early 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also doubled down on promises of mass deportations and tariffs in the conversation\u2002<\/a>with NBC\u2019s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker \u2013 the latter of which he acknowledged could cause Americans to pay more after riding voters\u2019 complaints about higher prices back to the White House at the expense of Vice-President Kamala Harris<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m going to be acting very quickly. First day,\u201d Trump said in the interview, claiming convicted Capitol attackers had been put through a \u201cvery nasty system\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know the system,\u201d said Trump, himself convicted in May by New York state prosecutors of criminally falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. \u201cThe system\u2019s a very corrupt system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump said there may be some exceptions to his pardons over an attack on the Capitol<\/a> that was meant to keep him in the Oval Office after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden \u2013 and which was linked to multiple deaths, including the suicides of traumatized law enforcement officers. He referenced previously debunked claims of anti-Trump law enforcement infiltrating his supporters\u2019 ranks and agitating the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Trump was asked about Capitol attackers who assaulted police officers he said that \u201cthey had no choice\u201d. He also claimed individuals were pressured into accepting guilty pleas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTheir whole lives have been destroyed,\u201d said Trump, who criticized the outgoing president\u2019s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, on convictions of lying on gun ownership application forms as well as tax evasion. \u201cThey\u2019ve been destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump denied he would direct his second administration\u2019s appointees to arrest elected officials involved in the investigation of the attack on the US Capitol, which led to federal criminal charges against him that have been dismissed. But he made it a point to tell Welker: \u201cHonestly, they should go to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 1,250 people have been convicted or pleaded guilty<\/a> in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. And at least 645 people have been sentenced to serve some time in prison, ranging from a few days to 22 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During his sentencing Friday, Philip Sean Grillo of New York City, one of the Capitol attackers, tauntingly told\u2002<\/a>the federal judge presiding over his case, \u201cTrump\u2019s gonna pardon me anyways.\u201d Grillo received a one-year prison sentenced and was ordered to be taken into custody immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another of the convicted attackers, Edward Kelley of Tennessee, was\u2002found guilty at trial<\/a> in November of conspiracy to murder federal employees. Jurors determined he had developed a list of officials he wanted to kill for investigating him in connection with the Capitol attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n