Senator Mitt Romney is slamming President-elect Donald Trump for vowing to pardon Americans who were prosecuted for demonstrating in the nation’s Capitol at the Save America rally on January 6, 2021.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Jake Tapper pressed the Utah Senator, a leader of the Republicans Against Trump movement, on his concerns about whether the narrative propagated by the Democrat and corporate media surrounding January 6 will sustain as Trump resumes the presidency.
“Four years ago next month you were running for your life from the mob on January 6. And now the person that you said was responsible for that day is about to return to the White House,” Tapper said. “He says he’s going to pardon a lot of the people that have been convicted for the crimes committed on that day.
“What do you think the legacy of January 6 will be in the history books, given the fact that, as they say, history is written by the winners. Donald Trump won and there’s been this attempt to whitewash the whole thing?”
Romney assured the state-run media that January 6 will continue to be seen “as a very dark day in American history.”
“I’m not sure history is written by winners in this case, politics is written by winners but the history books are typically written by scholars of one kind or another. I think attacking the Capital of the United States of America, smearing feces on the wall, attacking police officers, injuring police officers that will be seen as being an abuse and a felony and being wrong,” Romney lamented. “Who is responsible for it? There’ll be all sorts of conspiracy theories, but ultimately confessions and guilty verdicts sort of sort that out and it will be seen.”
“It was a very dark day in American history,” he said. I think it’s unfortunate that some in the MAGA world try and paper over it, but I don’t think it’s possible to do.”
Romney, the first member of Congress to call the January 6 rally, that police escalated into a riot by illegally using excessive force to shoot, bomb and gas demonstrators, an “insurrection.”
“I mean, this was an attack on on the symbol of democracy throughout the world, the United States Capitol and and an attack by a brutal mob,” Romney continued. “People were injured, and there was an effort to try and prevent the peaceful transfer of power. It was a very dark day in American history and it will be recorded as such.”
During Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020, Romney was the only Senate Republican to find him guilty of abuse of power.
In 2021, Romney was one of seven Senate Republicans who crossed party lines to find Trump guilty of inciting the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Tapper asked Romney whether he is concerned that he or his family could become targets for political retribution by Trump.
“No, actually,” he replied. “I’ve been pretty clean throughout my life. I’m not particularly worried about criminal investigations.”
“I don’t know how much, by the way, of what the president says is hyperbole,” he said, adding, “I think President Trump is likely to try and focus on the future.”
