On President Trump's inauguration day, Kash Patel, nominated for F.B.I. director, emphasized police support in a speech. Later, Trump signed a significant executive order pardoning over 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6th Capitol riot, many convicted of assaulting law enforcement. This move had been foreshadowed as Trump called rioters 'hostages'; however, the magnitude of pardons surprised even some Republicans. Senator Dick Durbin raised concerns with Patel about the implications of these pardons for Patel's vision of leading the F.B.I.
Our police officers, our sheriffs, our federal agents are some of the greatest warriors that God has ever created. We will put them first because they have our backs and now we will have your backs.
The executive order was not entirely a surprise. Trump had repeatedly promised to pardon the January 6th rioters, whom he had been referring to as 'hostages' for several years.
What came as a shock, even to some of his Republican allies, was the sheer scale of the order.
According to Durbin, Patel said that he'd have to run the question 'up the chain of command' before he could say anything that would be in the public record.
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