Republicans reject Trump’s call to pardon 6 January rioters: ‘Oh my goodness no’

Divide continues between Republicans over 2020 election, treatment of accused rioters

Former President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he could issue pardons for some individuals accused or convicted of taking part in the 6 January siege on the US Capitol at his rally on Saturday is already facing blowback from within the GOP.

He made the remarks in Conroe, Texas, where at a “Save America” rally he vowed that the GOP would retake both chambers of Congress in 2022 before winning back the White House in 2024.

Mr Trump stopped short of vowing to run himself at the rally, but that is expected by many to change potentially as soon as the end of the year, when the midterm races have concluded.

“If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly," said the former president, adding: "And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.”

Centrist members of his party who appeared on the Sunday news shows this week rejected the idea, calling for the judicial process to play out fairly without influence from the White House.

“Oh my goodness, no,” said New Hampshire Gov Chris Sununu, who recently rejected his party’s efforts to convince him to run for Senate, told CNN’s State of the Union.

He added that those who stormed the Capitol “have to be held accountable” for their actions.

“I don't care if you were part of burning cities in Antifa in 2020, storming the Capitol in 2021, everyone needs to be held accountable,” he said, using a common refrain Republicans have conjured to compare the attempt to force Congress to overturn the 2020 election to the burning of some businesses and other buildings during furious protests and riots that erupted in response to police killings of Black people.

Maine Senator Susan Collins, who is often seen as a swing vote in the Senate on issues including the 2017 GOP attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, agreed.

“We should let the judicial process proceed,” she said on ABC’s This Week.

Their comments reveal the state of the ongoing divide within the GOP, where establishment and centrist Republicans (including the GOP’s leadership in the Senate) have shied away from embracing false claims about the 2020 election and Mr Trump’s ongoing efforts to cast doubt about the results that they were all too willing to go along with in the days and weeks leading up to January 6.

Many members of the party further to the right of senators such as Ms Collins and governors like Mr Sununu and Maryland’s Larry Hogan have continued to embrace the false claims and have remained close allies of former President Trump as he ponders a bid to retake the White House in 2024.

Ms Collins appeared to dismiss the idea of supporting Mr Trump’s potential next run for the presidency (at least before the general election) during her interview on Sunday, remarking that “it's not likely [that she will support Mr Trump] given the many other qualified candidates that we have that have expressed interest in running”.