Symone Sanders: Trump ‘Literally Just Let His Private Militia out of Jail’ and ‘He Can Call on Them Again’

RUHLE: “Commuting virtually all of the January 6th convictions, which got a whole lot more attention. What was your takeaway?”
Sanders-TOWNSEND: “Well, look, first of all, Donald Trump had said that he was going to pardon the January 6th hostages, as he called them, and we know they are not hostages. These were people who went through the legal system, were convicted by a jury of their peers, many of them, and serving sentences, right? They committed these acts on camera. We saw it. It’s kind of crazy. But for weeks, months even, Republicans have been saying that Donald Trump is not going to do blanket sentences, the people that harmed police officers, they are not going to get pardons. And what we saw today was a blanket sentence — “
RUHLE: “Pardon.”
Sanders-TOWNSEND: “Pardon me, a blanket pardon. It was interesting to me, I was texting with a lot of Democrats from across the country, you know, state legislative leaders, because this fight is going to be in the states. As much as we look at Congress, America’s policy is made in the state legislatures. And one senior Dem state legislator from out west texted me and said, ‘You know, he literally just let his private militia out of jail.’ He said, ‘He’s instilled a sense of loyalty. These people feel loyal to him, and their lawlessness is now going to go unchecked, and he can now call on them again to do what they would like.’ So, I know a lot of Democrats have mixed feelings about the president’s preemptive pardon of his family, specifically — “
RUHLE: “Oh, President Biden?”
Sanders-TOWNSEND: “President Biden. You know, a lot of presidents around here, we got to be specific now. And I understand the concerns that people had. But I also understand what the president said is that, you know, the incoming president, President Trump, has promised a special prosecutor to go after and look into the Biden family. And so what he did is respond to the climate. If the lawmakers don’t like it, put a check on the president and pass a bill, okay, and curb the pardon powers. But until that happens, this is where we are.”