Defunding America’s police force is no longer a priority for Republican leadership.
Five years after the party took a hard line on police in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, Vice President J.D. Vance believes it’s OK to support individuals who beat and kill police, provided they do so with support for Donald Trump.
Hearing the list of Jan. 6 offenders who harmed police officers while attacking the U.S. Capitol, Vance said he “stands with” the decision to grant full, total and unconditional pardons to the violent attackers.
“If you stand with law enforcement, how can you say these people are unjustly imprisoned?” CBS’s Margaret Brennan asked Sunday.
“Margaret, you’re getting sidetracked — there’s an important issue here,” Vance said. “What did people actually do on January 6, and we’re not saying everyone did everything correctly, and then what did Merrick Garland’s Justice Department do in unjustly prosecuting more than 1,000 Americans in a politically motivated way?”
“Is this kind of violence against a police officer ever justified?” Brennan insisted.
“Violence against a police officer is not justified, but that doesn’t mean Merrick Garland’s armed Justice Department should expose you to incredibly unfair process, denial of constitutional rights, and, frankly, double standards that were not applied to many people,” Vance responded.
“The pardon power is not just for people who are angels or people who are perfect. And of course, we love our law enforcement and want people to be peaceful with everyone, but especially our good policemen. That is a separate issue from what Merrick Garland’s Justice Department did. We corrected a mistake, and I stand by it.”
Last week, the nation’s most powerful police union condemned Donald Trump for pardoning more than 1,500 people in connection with the January 6 riot, including those who attacked Capitol Police while storming the Capitol building.
“The [International Association of Chiefs of Police] and the FOP are extremely disappointed by the recent pardons and commutations of sentences granted by the Biden and Trump administrations to individuals convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers,” the Fraternal Order of Police said in a statement. “The IACP and the FOP firmly believe that those convicted of such crimes should serve their full sentences. Crimes against law enforcement are not just attacks on individuals or public safety—they are attacks on society and undermine the rule of law. Releasing those convicted of these crimes early diminishes accountability and diminishes the value of the sacrifices made by courageous law enforcement officers and their families.” The statements from both sides were a polite shift for the fraternal order, which endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Moments after the pardons were announced, the order initially responded with a “no pardon” statement.
Even some of the people who raided the U.S. Capitol and received pardons don’t believe they deserve the nation’s forgiveness. Former MAGA grandma Pamela Hemphill, 71, declined Trump’s pardon offer last week after serving 60 days in jail on a misdemeanor charge for her role in the insurrection. In an interview with NPR on Thursday, Hemphill claimed accepting the pardon would be “a slap in the face to the Capitol Police officers, the rule of law, our entire country.”
“You know, I broke the law that day — period, black and white. I’m not a victim. I’m a volunteer,” Hemphill said. “And I don’t want to be a part of their efforts to rewrite history about what really happened that day. So if I apologize, I’m saying, yes, what I did that day was okay. No, it was not okay.”