Joe Scarborough criticizes Todd Blanche over Jan. 6 pardons on Morning Joe
Key Takeaways
- •Todd Blanche defended Donald Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters by saying the president had the right to issue them.
- •Kristen Welker pressed Blanche on whether he approved of the pardons during Meet the Press.
- •Joe Scarborough accused the Trump administration of sending a harmful message to law enforcement and the public.
- •Scarborough said some pardoned Jan. 6 participants have since faced new allegations or convictions.
Attorney General Todd Blanche drew criticism from MS NOW host Joe Scarborough after Blanche answered questions about President Donald Trump’s actions over the weekend on Meet the Press.
During Morning Joe, the segment opened with a clip of Blanche speaking with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, in which he sidestepped questions about the president’s pardons of Jan. 6 insurrectionists. When Welker pressed him on whether he approved of the pardons, Blanche said it was the president’s right.
That exchange put Blanche in the middle of a broader debate over the Trump administration’s handling of Jan. 6 pardons and the message those pardons send to law enforcement, a subject that has continued to surface as some of the people who were pardoned face new allegations or convictions.
That response prompted a sharp reaction from Scarborough.
“The message you're sending, the message that you're sending and the president you're working with is beat the hell out of cops, have their families say that that led to their deaths, spend an entire day where cops are targeted, beaten, brutalized, choked, tased, shot with bear spray, and then they're going to get off scot free,” Scarborough said.
“Come on, Todd, you know that is just bull—-t,” he added. “I mean, what you're doing is you're sending a message not just to cops, that you're not going to back them up: you're sending a message to criminals, you're sending a message to the bad guys that there is no such thing as law and order.”
Scarborough also pointed to the number of Jan. 6 rioters who have been accused or convicted of crimes since Trump pardoned them. He said, “Real conservatives like me understand you let thugs get away with beating the hell out of cops. Bad s—t is gonna happen, and it's happening. Whether it's child molesting, whether it's threats to cops, whether it's threats to political leaders, bad s—t is going to happen. And it keeps happening because Donald Trump decided to take all of those people who rioted, all of those cop beaters and pardon them. And now he's got an attorney general that says: ‘That’s okay.’”
- YouTube youtu.be
