Fmr RNC Chair McDaniel: I Do Not Support Freeing January 6 Convicts

Former Republican National Committee chairwoman and NBC News contributor Ronna McDaniel said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “there were problems” with the 2020 election.

Host Kristen Welker said, “Donald Trump says one of his first acts if he is re-elected to a second term would be, quote, to free those charged and convicted of crimes related to January 6th. Do you support that?”

McDaniel said, “I want to be very clear: the violence that happened on January 6 is unacceptable. It doesn’t represent our country. It certainly does not represent my party. We should not be attacking the Capitol. We should not be having violence. I said it that day. I put a statement out that day that this is not acceptable. If you attacked our Capitol and you have been convicted, then that should stay.”

Welker said, “So then to the question, though, do you disagree with Trump saying that he’ll free them?”

McDaniel said, “I do not think that people who committed violent acts on January 6th should be free.”

She added, “I don’t think violence should be in our political discourse, Republican or Democrat, and I disagree with that. I agree with him on a whole host of other things. Let’s close the border. Let’s make sure we have good incomes for people. Let’s make sure we do a lot of great things, but on that point, I don’t think we should be freeing people who violently attacked Capitol Hill police officers and attacked the Capitol.”