Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Sunday said she disagreed with former President Donald Trump’s comments calling people who have been convicted of offenses related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot as “hostages,” but said it would be within his prerogative to pardon them if he wins another term in the White House this November.
During a rally in Iowa earlier this month, one day ahead of the third anniversary of Jan. 6, the former president lamented the legal consequences facing the rioters.
“You have the hostages, the J6 hostages I call them,” he said. “Nobody’s been treated ever in history so badly as those people.”
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Ernst, who earlier this month led a congressional delegation to the Middle East in coordination with the families of those taken captive during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel to push for their release, said Trump’s words on the subject bother her.
“There is no comparison,” Ernst said.
Ernst cited the six Americans who remain in Hamas’ custody 100 days after the militant group attacked Southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, 100 of which have yet to be released. The Oct. 7 attack also sparked the current brutal conflict in Gaza, which has killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians, according to local officials.
“Our Americans that are being held overseas, they are innocent,” she said. “They were celebrating the high Jewish holiday, and were taken by these horrible terrorists. So there is no equal term. The hostages are hostages.”
“There is a very clear difference,” she continued.
Yet Ernst said it would be within Trump’s right to choose to pardon those convicted of crimes related to their participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“I am not opposed to that,” she told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “That is a president’s prerogative. And so if former President Donald Trump is elected as our next president, he does have the right to do that.”
Ernst had previously referred to the rioters as “criminals.”
“There can be no doubt that the violent mob who lawlessly breached the Capitol in hopes of intimidating elected officials and disrupting our constitutional duties are criminals,” she wrote in an op-ed for the Des Moines Register on Jan. 11, 2021. “Blood was shed and lives were lost because of their heinous actions. They should all be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Ernst, who has so far not endorsed any candidate in the race, said she remained open to supporting Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary if he wins her state’s caucus, as expected, but also praised former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as a “great candidate.”
“Overall, if you look at national security, protecting our borders, and pushing back against our adversaries worldwide, Nikki Haley does have the experience there and she’s really spoke to that to the Iowa voters,” she said. “So, that may be one of the tipping points that resonate with so many different voters.”
While Haley appears to be ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa, Trump maintains a comfortable lead of over 52%, according to FiveThirtyEight, and is considered the front-runner in the race.
