'This is crazy': Ex-Trump aide can’t believe he’s publicly floating pardons for Jan. 6 defendants

Over 100 Capitol Police officers were injured on Jan. 6, 2021 when Trump supporters stormed the building seeking to stop the peaceful transfer of power, leaving one of the former president's aides to conclude it is crazy that the unsuccessful coup is still being publicly defended.

"Donald Trump is publicly dangling pardons for the capitol insurrectionists," CNN's Alisyn Camerota reported. "He floated this idea on the same day that President Biden denounced those very people in a fiery speech aimed at what he calls MAGA Republicans. President Biden warned America that this extremist movement is a direct threat, he says, to democracy and the soul of the nation."

For analysis, Camerota interviewed former Trump aide Gavin Smith and former Bill Clinton aide Paul Begala.

"The president put it well that the Republican Party is dominated by Trumpism these days, but, you know, a new poll that just came out from Morning Consult just a couple of weeks ago shows 53% of Republicans don't want Donald Trump to be the nominee in 2024," Smith said. "Is the Republican Party dominated by Donald Trump? I'm not convinced. I think, more or less, the moderate Republicans, I think they're scared to speak up because we've seen the power that Donald Trump has had and the havoc that he's wreaked around the country."

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"Gavin, the problem is that I think the latest polling suggests that 65% of Republicans believe that Joe Biden didn't legitimately win the presidency," Camerota noted. "You know, Donald Trump's lies about it have been so potent that they've actually taken hold and I just want to bounce this off of you because I'm still trying to make sense of what former President Trump was saying yesterday on this radio show. He was basically asked by this radio host, conservative radio host, what are we going to do about all of these people who are in jail because of Jan. 6 and he says that he is financially supporting them and will pardon them."

"Gavin, I mean, 114 police officers were injured that day, some of them egregiously," Camerota noted. "What is Donald Trump talking about?"

"This is crazy," Smith replied.

"This issue has been tried in dozens of courts across the nation, many of which are presided over by Donald Trump-appointed judges and lost every single time," Smith explained. "To Donald Trump and his far-right MAGA extremists that continue to tout this election conspiracy theory, I would say to them, 'show me the proof.' I haven't seen any in the last two years."

"We're two years out and while Democrats are talking about policy and legislative wins, we're talking about a stolen election that simply didn't happen," Smith said.

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