Ron DeSantis Hints at Potential Pardons for Proud Boys Sentenced to Prison Over January 6 if He's Elected President
Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a 'single standard of justice' in the U.S.
Sep. 7 2023, Published 1:37 p.m. ET
Governor Ron DeSantis hinted at pardoning Proud Boys members who were convicted and sentenced for their roles in the January 6 insurrection if he's elected president, RadarOnline.com has learned.
DeSantis said he would "look at" pardons for the "excessive sentences" issued to offenders like Enrique Tarrio, who received 22 years. The GOP candidate claimed a double standard when compared to Black Lives Matter protestors.
DeSantis said he would 'look at' the sentences handed to January 6 offenders if elected to the White House.
On Wednesday, during an interview with Newsmax's Eric Bolling, DeSantis was asked if he would consider pardons or commuted sentences for January 6 offenders, to which the governor said he would "look at all those cases."
"There are some examples of people that should not have been prosecuted. They just walked into the Capitol," DeSantis told Bolling.
The Florida governor further claimed if the offenders were Black Lives Matter protestors, "they would not have been prosecuted."
Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years behind bars on Tuesday.
The GOP candidate stopped just shy of committing to pardons for all January 6 offenders, because some "people that probably did commit misconduct, they may have been violent."
"But to say it's an act of terrorism when it was basically a protest that devolved into a riot, to do excessive sentences— you can look at, okay maybe they were guilty, but 22 years if other people that did other things got six months."
Donald Trump was met with some audible boos as he made his way through the stadium.
While noting some of the charges against political rival Donald Trump, DeSantis doubled down and said there needed to be "a single standard of justice" in the country.
"We'll use pardons and commutations as appropriate to ensure that everyone's treated equally, and as we know, a lot of people with the BLM riots, they didn't get prosecuted at all," the Republican continued.
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DeSantis claimed that some January 6 offenders were charged because they 'walked into the Capitol.'
The high-profile Proud Boy members sentenced this week were just a few of the 1,100 people to receive charges so far by the federal government for the insurrection at the Capitol.
Tarrio and his co-defendants were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role in organizing and encouraging members of the extremist group to take on Washington D.C. in an attempt to stop the 2020 election vote certification.
While Tarrio was arrested prior to the Capitol riot, damning text messages and social media posts revealed his support from afar.
As the nation watched while Trump supporters and the extremist group members alike stormed the Capitol, Tarrio posted on social media, "Do what must be done."
Later that same day, in a group chat with Proud Boys members, a question was raised about what could be done next. Tarrio responded, "Do it again."
"Make no mistake," Tarrio texted the same group later that day. "We did this."
While the prosecution sought 33 years for Tarrio, Judge Timothy Kelly handed down a lesser sentence of 22 years.
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