President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he will consider granting pardons to individuals involved in the 2021 US Capitol riot on his first day in office next month.
“These people are living in hell,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press in his first broadcast network interview since winning November’s election.
The Republican also pledged to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in the US but expressed willingness to collaborate with Democrats to assist certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children.
During a broad-ranging interview recorded on Friday, Trump promised to issue numerous executive orders on topics such as immigration, energy, and the economy following his inauguration on January 20.
Although he suggested he would not pursue a Justice Department investigation into Joe Biden, Trump stated that some of his political opponents, including lawmakers involved in investigating the Capitol riot, should face imprisonment.
Trump was also asked whether he would consider pardoning the hundreds of individuals convicted for their roles in the Capitol riot, which took place three months after his loss in the 2020 election when his supporters stormed Congress.
“We’re going to look at independent cases,” he said. “Yeah, but I’m going to be acting very quickly.”
“First day,” he added.
Trump continued: “You know, by the way, they’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”
The president-elect made other news in the NBC interview aired on Sunday:
- He offered a caveat on whether he would keep the US in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato): “If they’re paying their bills, and if I think they’re doing a fair – they’re treating us fairly, the answer is absolutely, I’d stay with Nato”
- Trump said he would not seek to impose restrictions on abortion pills, though when asked to make a guarantee, he added: “Well, I commit. I mean… things change”
- The Republican said Ukraine should “probably” expect less aid when he returns to the White House
- Trump said he thinks “somebody has to find out” if there is a link between autism and childhood vaccines – an idea that has been ruled out by multiple studies around the world. Trump suggested his nominee for health secretary, vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr, would look into the matter
- The president-elect repeated his promise that he will not seek to cut Social Security, nor raise its eligibility age, though he said he would make it “more efficient”, without offering further details
- Pressed on whether his plan to impose tariffs on imports from major US trading partners would raise consumer prices for Americans, he said: “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow”
Regarding immigration, Trump told NBC that he would pursue executive action to eliminate birthright citizenship, which grants an American passport to anyone born in the US, regardless of their parents’ nationality.
Birthright citizenship is derived from the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which declares that “all persons born” in the United States “are citizens of the United States.”
“We’re going to have to get it changed,” Trump said. “We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it.”
Trump also said he would follow through on his campaign pledge to deport undocumented immigrants, including those with family members who are US citizens.
“I don’t want to be breaking up families,” he said, “so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.”
Trump also said he wants to work with Congress to help so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were shielded under an Obama-era programme, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which Trump once attempted to scrap.
“I will work with the Democrats on a plan,” he said, adding that some of these immigrants have found good jobs and started businesses.
Trump appeared to send mixed messages regarding his earlier promises to seek retribution against political opponents.
This week, outgoing President Joe Biden granted a broad pardon to his son, Hunter, who had been convicted on criminal charges. Biden is reportedly considering additional pardons for political allies before leaving office next month.
Trump suggested that he would not pursue a special counsel investigation into Biden and his family, a move he had previously vowed. “I’m not looking to go back into the past,” he stated. “I’m looking to make our country successful. Retribution will be through success.”
However, he also stated that members of the now-dissolved Democratic-led House committee that investigated him “should go to jail.”
In response, former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney criticized Trump’s remark, calling it “a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”
During the NBC interview, Trump further clarified that he would not direct the FBI to investigate his political adversaries.
But he also told the network: “If they were crooked, if they did something wrong, if they have broken the law, probably.
“They went after me. You know, they went after me, and I did nothing wrong.”