Trump Vows to Free Jan. 6 ‘Hostages’ in First Act as President

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally on February 17, 2024 in Waterford, Michigan. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump has vowed to release individuals imprisoned over the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol if he wins the 2024 election in November.

President Trump made the comments in a statement on Truth Social on March 11, noting that it would be among one of his first acts upon taking office in the White House.

The Republican said shutting down the U.S.-Mexico border and increasing oil drilling as part of efforts to make America more energy independent would also be among his first actions as president.

“My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!” President Trump said.

President Trump said during a rally in Texas in 2022 that he would consider pardoning those convicted of their involvement in the Jan. 6 breach, noting that his administration would treat them “fairly.”

“If it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly,” he said at the time.

Last year, President Trump told a town hall hosted by CNN at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire that he was inclined to pardon a “large portion” of those charged with crimes relating to the breach.

However, the Republican stressed he would not pardon all of those imprisoned, telling the audience that “a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”

Jan. 6 ‘Hostages’

At a rally in Iowa on the third anniversary of the breach at the start of this year, President Trump referred to the individuals arrested in the wake of the Jan. 6 breach as “hostages” who had suffered enough.” He then urged President Joe Biden to release them adding: “You can do it real easy, Joe.”

President Trump’s latest comments mark the first time he has suggested that releasing those imprisoned over the Jan. 6 breach would be a top priority and that he will take immediate action to do so if he wins the November election.

According to the most recent statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ), more than 1,358 individuals from nearly all 50 states have been charged with crimes linked to the breach of the U.S. Capitol.

This includes more than 486 individuals who were handed felony charges for assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

Most recently, a 43-year-old Maryland man was arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges—including offenses of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers—in relation to the events of Jan. 6.

President Trump himself has been indicted over allegations related to his actions on Jan. 6 and alleged attempts to challenge the results of the 2020 election, including conspiring to defraud the country and obstructing an official proceeding.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Demonstrators entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election. Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Trump Claim ‘False’

President Trump’s comments came on the same day that a Republican-led House committee released a report on its investigation into work done by a Democrat-dominated select committee that probed Jan. 6.

According to the GOP committee report, four individuals who served in the Trump administration did not corroborate testimony made by former aide Cassidy Hutchinson before the Jan. 6 committee in 2022.

Ms. Hutchinson, a former White House official, testified that she was told by Secret Service agent Anthony Ornato that he was informed by a fellow agent that, on the day the U.S. Capitol was breached, President Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the SUV he was in after being told he could not go to the Capitol.

However, according to the Republican-led House committee, the Secret Service agent who was driving President Trump at the time of the breach denied the claim. However, this testimony was allegedly concealed by the Democrat-led committee.

“Despite the driver of the president’s SUV testifying under oath that the Hutchinson story was false, the select committee chose to validate and promote Hutchinson’s version of the story as fact,” House Republicans said in the new report.

“The select committee hid the driver’s full testimony and only favorably mentioned his testimony in its final report, it did not release the full transcript,” the report added.