TRI-COUNTY — Now that President Trump has pardoned — or commuted sentences — for some 1,500 participants who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Republicans that represent the tri-county area are telling an entirely different story about the insurrection than they did in the weeks following the Capitol attack.
Most Republicans nationally — including Vice President J.D. Vance — have retreated from original assertions that pardons should be treated on a case by case basis and are declining to comment on the rationale of pardoning violent offenders.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who after the attack stated: “The January 6th attack on the Capitol was horrific and appalling. Those who planned and participated in the violence that day should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” is now not commenting on the issue other than saying it’s solely up to the president. “As we’ve seen with President Biden’s preemptive pardons — pardons of his own family — the power to issue a pardon is one granted to a President, and there’s really no role for Congress,” he said in a statement via his staff to The Big Bend Sentinel on Wednesday.
As ABC News reported on January 7, “When asked about the violent offenders being pardoned, Texas Sen. John Cornyn said, ‘That’s not the question. The question is who has the authority, and the president has the authority.’”
That’s been the party line for most Republican congressional members, despite the fact that they were the targets of the January 6 attacks and also have a duty to follow the Constitution and support the legal and peaceful transfer of powers between administrations.
CNN reported that U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz previously used the term “terrorist attack” 17 times to describe January 6, but he later backtracked and called his words “sloppy phrasing.” Now, Cruz has stated that “the Biden administration abused its power, targeting people for peaceful speech” and that he is “glad that President Trump corrected that abuse of power.”
Cruz and Rep. Tony Gonzales did not respond to The Big Bend Sentinel’s request for comment.
Gonzales — who has been a more moderate Republican than his party delegation to Congress — has not commented on the pardons but previously stated his belief that violent participants be prosecuted. He told ABC News on January 7, “They’re certainly not hostages … They’re certainly not heroes. They broke the law, and we have to obey our laws.”
