President Trump on Tuesday defended signing mass pardons for rioters charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, including those who were violent offenders, a move that has drawn criticism from Democrats and some Republicans.

Trump, while taking questions from reporters at the White House after announcing a major AI initiative, brushed away the suggestion that he does not support law enforcement despite pardoning those charged with violently attacking Capitol Police. He went on to equate the pardons he signed with former President Biden’s pardons for family members and with criminals who don’t get charged.

Trump was asked why one of the Jan. 6 defendants who used a stun gun on a police officer during the riot deserved to be pardoned, to which Trump responded: “I don’t know, was it a pardon? Because we’re looking at commutes and we’re looking at pardons.”

“We’ll take a look at everything,” Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. “But I can say this. Murderers today are not even charged. You have murderers that aren’t charged all over.

“These people have already served years in prison, and they’ve served them viciously. It’s a disgusting prison. It’s horrible. It’s been inhumane,” Trump added.

Asked specifically about his decision to commute the sentences of former Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were charged with plotting to forcibly halt the peaceful transfer of power in 2020, Trump argued they had served enough time.

“These people have served years of jail, and their lives have been ruined,” Trump said. “They’ve served years in jail, and, if you look at the American public, the American public is tired of it.”

In defending the Jan. 6 pardons, Trump referenced protests in Seattle in 2020, when activists occupied parts of the city after clashing with law enforcement officials. And he claimed multiple times that murderers are not even charged, though he did not specify who he was referring to before shifting to the topic of immigrants in the U.S. illegally. 

Trump also at one point shifted the topic to pardons issued by his predecessor just before leaving office. 

Biden on Monday morning announced preemptive pardons for multiple family members, for retired Gen. Mark Milley and for members of the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Biden explained that he was issuing the pardon not charged with crimes because he worried they would be targeted by politically motivated investigations.

“Joe Biden gave a pardon yesterday to a lot of criminals. These are criminals that he gave a pardon to. And you should be asking that question,” Trump told a reporter.

Trump on Monday night in one of his first official acts as president granted roughly 1,500 “full, complete and unconditional pardons” for rioters charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. There have been 1,583 total defendants charged.  

About 600 Jan. 6 defendants were accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding police. Ten defendants were convicted of sedition, the crown jewel of the Justice Department’s sprawling prosecution. 

The pardons, which Trump repeatedly promised during the 2024 campaign, came under scrutiny from some lawmakers on Tuesday, including by some in his own party.

“House Republicans are celebrating pardons issued to a bloodthirsty mob that violently assaulted police officers on January 6, 2021. What happened to backing the Blue?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) posted Tuesday on Threads. 

“No one should excuse violence. And particularly violence against police officers,” former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Semfaor.