Wall Street Journal pans Trump Jan. 6 pardons: 'Law and order?'
The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal is criticizing President Trump's decision to pardon more than 1,500 his supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"This is a rotten message from a President about political violence done on his behalf, and it’s a bait and switch," the Journal wrote in an editorial published late Tuesday. "What happened that day is a stain on Mr. Trump’s legacy. By setting free the cop beaters, the President adds another."
The president this week issued pardons of more than 1,500 people charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot, a move that has sparked outrage from some in law enforcement and Republicans who have condemned the violence that day.
Trump defended his decision this week and seemingly pointed to what he and other Republicans have said is failures by Democrats to combat crime in America.
“We’ll take a look at everything,” the newly inaugurated president said on Monday. “But I can say this: Murderers today are not even charged. You have murderers that aren’t charged all over."
The Journal is owned by billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who attended Trump's inaugurating on Monday and was consistently attacked by the president along the campaign trail as a "globalist" who Trump argued was "trying to tear me down."