|
Kent “has stressed his belief that Donald Trump needs to win the White House and pardon some of the mob who took part in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.”
On the eve of the three-year anniversary of Jan. 6th, a new CBS report outlines election-denier Joe Kent’s latest attempts to undercut the judicial system on behalf of Donald Trump.
When asked about defendants on trial for their role in the deadly insurrection, Kent was caught on video saying that there has been “a real deprivation of due process,” and that Republicans “need to win in 2024 so that we can get President Trump in there to pardon them.”
DCCC Spokesperson Dan Gottlieb:
“Yet again, insurrectionist sympathizer Joe Kent is perpetuating dangerous lies and pandering to criminally-indicted Donald Trump. Southwest Washington deserves a representative who will fight for them, not serve as Trump’s puppet in Congress. Unfortunately, Joe Kent is too busy living in delusion to represent Washingtonians.”
CBS News: The “Trumpification” of the GOP’s Jan. 6 pardon push
Hunter Woodall | January 5, 2024
-
A Republican running for one of the most competitive congressional seats in the country has stressed his belief that Donald Trump needs to win the White House and pardon some of the mob who took part in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
-
Back in 2022, Washington GOP candidate Joe Kent primaried Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of only 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Capitol attack.
-
While he managed to oust her, Kent lost a close general election race a few months later. He’s running for the same seat this year in a contest that could not only help determine which party controls the House, but also test how far to the right a swing district may be willing to go.
-
During a recent campaign stop, footage obtained by CBS News shows Kent being asked about the Jan. 6 defendants “still rotting in jail and who didn’t get a speedy trial.”
-
“We need to win in 2024 so that we can get President Trump in there to pardon them,” Kent answered, and added that “if anybody did anything violent on Jan. 6, and there certainly was that, they should be held accountable for it. But the way that there’s been mass arrests, there’s been a real deprivation of due process, like that’s got to end.”
-
As more time passes since the storming of the Capitol, Kent is among a set of Republicans who have embraced the prospect of pardons for at least a portion of the people tied to the riot. Kent’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
-
“There’s a lot of crazy out there,” said Ty Cobb, a former federal prosecutor who was a White House lawyer during the Trump administration. “And all this is possible, which is tragic for America.”
|
