A.G. Gancarski
The new Secretary of State won’t weigh in on President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 protests at the United States Capitol.
“I’m not going to engage in domestic political debates. I can’t at the — in the role at State Department, my job is to focus on the President’s foreign policy,” Marco Rubio told Craig Melvin of NBC News.
Trump’s pardons of those involved in protesting the certification of the 2020 election are intended to rectify a “grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begin a process of national reconciliation,” per the President.
He also directed the Attorney General’s Office to ensure “all individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, who are currently held in prison are released immediately.”
Rubio noted, in his comments to Melvin, that his days “of engaging in domestic politics will be put aside” in order to “focus on the affairs that the United States has around the world and the engagements we have to have to make our country a safer, stronger, more prosperous place.”
In the immediate wake of the attacks, Rubio said Trump bore “some responsibility” for the protests and the aftermath, which led to a brief delay in the certification of Joe Biden’s win.
Rubio told host Maria Bartiromo that Trump “indulged groups” that were not, as it turns out “part of the conservative movement,” but instead, apparently, were “wackos” and “nut jobs.”
“I can’t give you an assessment of every single person that went in there. But it’s clear now by the arrests that are being made what groups are saying online: that QAnon people are involved, this ridiculous conspiracy. Then you’ve got White supremacists in there. You’ve got the Proud Boys. It’s a rogue’s gallery of groups who thought they were going to storm the Capitol,” Rubio said.
“They thought they were going to apprehend the Vice President and Congress and have them pay the ultimate price, as they called it. ‘String them up,’ they would say. I’ve had protests here in Florida calling for me to be strung up and others.”
“We have for too long indulged some of these groups as part of the conservative movement. These are not conservatives. These are wackos. These are nut jobs,” Rubio added at the time, advising conservatives to “watch what we say and who we allow into the movement.”
11 comments
tom palmer
January 22, 2025 at 3:02 pm
That is a diplomatic response.
MH/Duuuval
January 25, 2025 at 8:18 am
Less laughable than Rick Scott who “saw” no violence on that day and presumably never looked at any video that included the hour-long melee.
Laura Cole
January 22, 2025 at 8:23 pm
Marco Rubio is a spineless talking head for his fellow MAGA Republicans. He is refusing to denounce the violent riot on the U.S. Capitol incited by Donald Trump on January 6th, 2021, therefore he is willfully affiliating himself with the MAGA agenda. He knows that if he does not voice Donald Trump’s new narrative with regards to the violent attacks at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, Donald Trump will destroy him politically.
The MAGA REPUBLICANS are deceitful and dangerous. Everything good this country has to offer, Maga zealots are going to destroy.( Donald Trump and his cabinet are the maga zealots). Those of you who willfully voted for Donald Trump and his cabinet of maga zealots, sit down and shut up!
MH/Duuuval
January 22, 2025 at 8:54 pm
Returning J6ers should be able to vote. The Proud Boys willl have their own south Florida MAGA club and can invite Rubio to discuss foreign policy.
Victoria Olson
January 23, 2025 at 12:40 am
Thank you Laura for the TRUTH.
Lewis Bower
January 23, 2025 at 2:27 pm
Another sour grape Liberal.
Doesn’t understand the constitution or bill of rights.
Do some critical thinking!
MH/Duuuval
January 24, 2025 at 10:25 am
Isn’t critical thinking outlawed in Florida, in favor of uncritical acceptance of MAGA pablum??
Victoria Olson
January 23, 2025 at 12:39 am
Rubio as usual has no balls to stand up to his beliefs against the Cheeto.
Ocean Joe
January 23, 2025 at 5:28 am
A truthful answer about pardons for those who physically attacked police officers on January 6, would have ended Rubio’s career in politics.
The truth now is that the 2020 election was stolen, Trump will at some time actually present the evidence, and therefore anything done in his name on January 6 was OK. Except of course that his own attorney general, Bill Barr, said his election claims were “total bullshit” just like practically everything that comes out of Trump’s mouth.
MH/Duuuval
January 23, 2025 at 10:22 am
The blanket pardon is another example of Trump’s laziness transmuted into vileness. There was plenty of time and $$ to go over the list of J6 inmates and separate those found guilty of assault from the rest.
It’s telling that Stewart Rhodes was visiting MCs not long after his release inside the Capitol, full of his typical bluster and threats. And, Enrique Tarrio is likely to be a poster boy for the MAGA thug club in South Florida.
Sundance
January 24, 2025 at 9:07 pm
The numerology is 555 and Cold
Comments are closed.