Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the unbiased presidential candidate, mentioned Friday that if he was elected, he would appoint a particular counsel to research how prosecutors dealt with instances associated to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.Kennedy additionally mentioned Friday that there was “little evidence of a true insurrection” and falsely claimed that the protesters on the Capitol “carried no weapons.”Greater than 1,000 folks have been charged within the assault, together with 10 on gun-related prices. Lots of have been convicted and sentenced.Kennedy later issued a second assertion Friday evening that mentioned, “My understanding that none of the January 6 rioters who invaded the Capitol were carrying firearms was incorrect. Several have been convicted of carrying firearms into the Capitol building.”“Others assaulted Capitol Police with pepper spray, bludgeons and other makeshift weapons,” he added.“As president, I will appoint a special counsel — an individual respected by all sides — to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case, and I will right any wrongs that we discover,” Kennedy mentioned. “Without the impartial rule of law, there is no true democracy or moral governance.”The assertion comes a day after a Kennedy marketing campaign fundraising e-mail referred to Jan. 6 defendants as “activists” who’ve been “stripped of their Constitutional liberties.” The marketing campaign later retracted the e-mail and mentioned the communication, which claimed the defendants have been stripped of their rights, “does not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s views.”Kennedy characterised the occasions of Jan. 6 as “a protest” that become “a riot.” However on Friday, he disputed calling what occurred that January day an riot.“Because it happened with the encouragement of President Trump, and in the context of his delusion that the election was stolen from him, many people see it not as a riot but as an insurrection,” Kennedy’s assertion learn.All through the assertion, Kennedy — who was briefly banned from Instagram in 2021 for spreading misinformation in regards to the coronavirus vaccines — espoused a number of false claims in regards to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.“I have not examined the evidence in detail,” the assertion learn, “but reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection. They observe that the [rioters] … had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government.”Republicans in seven states that Joe Biden received despatched falsified paperwork to the Senate and the Nationwide Archives falsely claiming Donald Trump received the 2020 election. Trump’s allies then used these paperwork to attempt to forestall the certification of Biden’s victory on Jan. 6.Textual content messages and speeches made public throughout dozens of court docket instances present that many rioters got here to D.C. with the purpose of pressuring Vice President Mike Pence and different Republicans to go together with that effort. A number of high leaders within the far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys teams have been discovered responsible of seditious conspiracy for his or her actions on Jan. 6.Additional on within the assertion, Kennedy claimed that protesters on the Capitol that day “carried no weapons.”Eight males have been convicted of possessing weapons at or close to the Capitol on Jan. 6, and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent is awaiting trial for flashing his badge and a gun on the grounds. A tenth particular person was arrested final month on prices accusing him of firing a pistol within the air on the Capitol’s west plaza.Different weapons and makeshift weapons have been deployed by rioters, together with pepper and bear spray, flagpoles, hearth extinguishers and damaged furnishings from contained in the constructing. Greater than 140 law enforcement officials have been injured. One died the following day, whereas one other took his personal life after struggling a traumatic mind damage.Kennedy additionally emphasised that Trump had urged folks to “protest ‘peacefully.’” Whereas the previous president used that phrase in his speech the morning of Jan. 6, he additionally informed his crowd of supporters, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Trump watched tv protection of the violence unfolding and resisted entreaties to intervene from advisers, allies and his elder daughter, in addition to from lawmakers underneath assault.A Home choose committee tasked with investigating the assault held a number of public hearings on the matter and issued an 800-plus-page report that wove collectively proof drawn from hundreds of paperwork and greater than 1,000 witness interviews over the 18 months of the inquiry. It argued that Trump launched into an orchestrated plan to stay in workplace regardless of his election loss, pressuring state officers, the Justice Division and his personal vice chairman to assist him. In the end, the committee argues, he impressed his supporters to commit violence in his identify.Kennedy mentioned he was involved in regards to the “harsh treatment” of individuals incarcerated for Jan. 6 crimes, a preferred far-right speaking level. A Washington Publish examine of Jan. 6 sentences discovered that rioters who assaulted law enforcement officials obtained lighter punishments than in comparable instances nationally. In two-thirds of instances, judges sentenced beneath what federal pointers advisable.Kennedy referred to Jan. 6 as “one of the most polarizing topics on the political landscape,” and mentioned he was “listening to people of diverse viewpoints on it in order to make sense of the event and what followed. I want to hear every side.”Kennedy, who launched his presidential marketing campaign as a Democrat however filed as an unbiased in October, has more and more ramped up his assaults on President Biden. All through his long-shot third-party bid — and uphill battle to realize poll entry throughout the nation — he has touted his enchantment to Republicans, Democrats and disaffected voters in between who’re weary of a Biden-Trump rematch. However Kennedy’s assertion Friday echoed complaints lodged by Trump and his Republican allies in Congress about how the Jan. 6 instances have been dealt with.“I am concerned about the possibility that political objectives motivated the vigor of the prosecution of the J6 defendants, their long sentences, and their harsh treatment,” he mentioned. He additionally expressed issues in regards to the “weaponization of government agencies” in opposition to political opponents.“Both establishment parties are using J6 to pour fuel on the fire of America’s divisions,” Kennedy added.Kennedy has a historical past of downplaying the severity of political violence that occurred on Jan. 6. In an interview with Politico in October, he mentioned that “Jan. 6 was an attack on a building. And we have lots of layers of government behind that building.”“What’s the worst thing that could happen? Right?” Kennedy requested that very same month on the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast.” “I mean, we have an entire military, Pentagon, a few blocks away.”Kennedy beforehand informed The Washington Publish that he would think about pardoning these convicted of their function within the riot if he was offered proof of prosecutorial misconduct.He drew sharp criticism this week when he superior an argument that Biden poses a better menace to democracy than Trump, saying, “The greatest threat to democracy is not someone who questions election returns,” however slightly Biden, pointing to his administration’s exchanges with social media firms.Kennedy is the scion of the well-known Democratic household whose father and uncle have been killed in two of probably the most high-profile acts of political violence in American historical past. Kennedy’s uncle, former president John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. 5 years later, Kennedy’s father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated after successful the California Democratic presidential main.Kennedy argued his views on the Jan. 6 assault are shared by “many reasonable Americans,” however a Washington Publish-College of Maryland ballot carried out in December discovered they’re held by a Trump-supporting minority of the nation. An awesome majority of Individuals, 73 %, say the punishments given to rioters have been truthful or not harsh sufficient. A majority of Individuals additionally imagine that these coming into the Capitol have been a menace to democracy.Nonetheless, Republicans more and more view the rioters in a constructive mild, with solely 18 % saying they have been “mostly violent,” in contrast with 77 % of Democrats and 54 % of independents.Judges overseeing these instances have repeatedly emphasised that menace and lamented that Trump and his supporters downplay it.“This is not normal. This cannot become normal. We as a community, we as a society, we as a country cannot condone the normalization of the January 6 Capitol riot,” Decide Royce Lamberth, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, mentioned earlier this week after sentencing a person who led a mob push in opposition to police that left officers in concern for his or her lives.Meryl Kornfield contributed to this report.
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