(Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was giving financial help to some supporters involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on Congress and would look very favorably on giving pardons if he were again elected to the White House.
Thousands of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol after a fiery speech in which he repeated his false claims that his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud, an allegation repeatedly rejected by multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump’s own administration.
“I will look very, very favorably about, about full pardons. If I decide to run and if I win, I will, I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons, full pardons,” Trump, who is considering a new run for president in 2024, told radio host Wendy Bell.
The onslaught on Congress, aimed at preventing certification of Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election, led to several deaths and injured more than 140 police officers.
Around 850 people have been arrested for crimes related to the attack, including more than 250 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
Several members of the right-wing group, the Oath Keepers, were charged with seditious conspiracy.
Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing regarding the events of Jan. 6 and said on Thursday he was providing help for some of those involved.
“I am financially supporting people that are incredible and they were in my office actually two days ago. It’s very much on my mind. It’s a disgrace what they’ve done to them,” he said.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles and Katharine Jackson in Washington; editing by Richard Pullin)
