“I don’t condone that characterization at all, no,” said Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) when asked about Trump calling Jan. 6-related convicts “hostages.”
“We got a justice system and they’re working through it,” Thune said of the nearly 900 people convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes, including more than 200 people who have pleaded guilty to felonies.
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), a member of the Senate Republican leadership team, dismissed Trump’s claim — echoed by some other Republicans — that individuals who were convicted of destroying property or assaulting police officers in the Capitol are “hostages.”
“Somebody who’s been duly convicted of a federal crime is not a hostage,” he said.
“Let me say this about Jan. 6: I’ve had remarks that I made on Feb. 13 of ’21 about how I felt about Jan. 6. I recently reread it, I stand by what I said,” McConnell said.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) balked at the notion that people convicted of Jan. 6 crimes are somehow hostages or political prisoners.
“That’s like calling drug traffickers unlicensed pharmacists. At the end of the day, they’re J6 convicts to me. If they were proven guilty in a court of law of a crime, it is what it is."