‘First day’: Trump vows to act ‘very quickly’ to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, says Liz Cheney and House select committee members ‘should be in jail’ in first TV interview since election

President-elect Donald Trump doubled down on his Jan. 6 pardon promises Sunday, saying on “Meet the Press” in his first TV interview since the election that he’ll be “acting very quickly” to issue get-out-of-jail-free cards to Capitol rioters — and that it’s Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo) and House Select Committee members who should actually be behind bars — among other jabs and threats.

“They had no choice,” Trump said when asked about rioters who were caught assaulting police officers. “I know the system. The system’s a very corrupt system,” he told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “They say to a guy, ‘You’re going to go to jail for two years or for 30 years.’ And these guys are looking, their whole lives have been destroyed. For two years, they’ve been destroyed.”

Asked when the public could start seeing pardons from him, Trump said: “I’m going to be acting very quickly. First day. I’m looking first day.” He vowed to probe each Jan. 6 criminal case individually in an effort to separate defendants who are “radical” and “crazy” from the ones who “had no choice.”

“These people have been there, how long has it been? Three or four years?” Trump said of rioters who’ve been sent away to federal prison. “They’ve been in there for years and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”

President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to issue pardons for Jan. 6 defendants on his first day in the White House.

PRES.-ELECT DONALD TRUMP:
Yeah. I’m looking first day.

KRISTEN WELKER:
You’re going to issue these pardons?

PRES.-ELECT DONALD TRUMP:
These people have been… pic.twitter.com/G2VRuKOC8U

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 8, 2024

More than 900 people have pleaded guilty to crimes connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, which unfolded in 2021 after Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in the election, and incidents that stemmed from it. Charges have included assault on police officers, plots to kill FBI agents who investigated the attack and firing guns into the air as it went down.

It’s the now-disbanded House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, however, that Trump wants his administration to go after, though he doesn’t plan to order them directly.

“Everybody on that committee, for what they did honestly, should go to jail,” he said, in reference to the committee’s unanimous 2022 vote to subpoena and refer Trump for prosecution.

Asked if he’d order the FBI or attorney general directly to go after Cheney and others on the committee, Trump claimed, “No, no. Not at all. I think that they’ll have to look at that, but I’m going to focus on ‘drill, baby, drill.” The former and future POTUS has been using the “drill, baby, drill” line to promote his proposed push for more oil and gas production.

In addition to Jan. 6, Trump was questioned about whether he’d set Pam Bondi‘s sights on Jack Smith if she gets the AG job. He told Welker, “I want her to do what she wants to do. I’m not going to instruct her to do it.” But he also added that Smith was a “deranged” person who deserves to be investigated.

“I think he’s very corrupt,” Trump said.

Asked about his promises to carry out mass deportations and end birthright citizenship, the 45th and 47th president told Welker “you have to do it” — saying, “it’s a very tough thing to do” but it must be done. “You have to have, you know, you have rules, regulations, laws,” Trump said. “They came in illegally. You know, the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been on line for ten years to come into the country.”

Trump told Welker he wants to make it “very easy for people to come in,” but they must do it legally and “have to pass the test,” which he outlined for Welker.

“They have to be able to tell you what the Statue of Liberty is,” Trump explained. “They have to tell you a little bit about our country. They have to love our country. They can’t come out of prisons. We don’t want people that are in for murder. So we had 11,000 and 13,000, different estimates. … released into our country over the last three years. They’re walking down the streets. They’re walking next to you and your family. And they’re very dangerous people.”

Asked about his threats to end birthright citizenship on his first day and whether they will actually come to fruition, Trump said, “Yeah. Absolutely.” He pushed back on statements from Welker describing how the Fourteenth Amendment would stop him, with her quoting directly from it, saying “All persons born in the United States are citizens.”

“Well, we’re going to have to get it changed,” Trump responded. “We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it. We’re the only country that has it, you know.”

Welker asked, “Through an executive action?”

“Well, if we can, through executive action,” Trump replied. “I was going to do it through executive action but then we had to fix COVID first, to be honest with you. We have to end it.”

Trump takes office on Jan. 20, 2025.