Ron DeSantis Condemns ‘Excessive Sentences’ Against Proud Boys, Floats ‘Pardons and Commutations’ If Elected

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis condemned the “excessive sentences” given to members of the Proud Boys who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot and floated the possibility of pardons and commutations if elected president.

Asked by Newsmax host Eric Bolling on Wednesday whether he would pardon or commute the sentences of several Proud Boys, who were given sentences of between 15 and 22 years in prison, DeSantis said, “We will look at all those cases.”

He argued:

There’s some examples of people that should not have been prosecuted. They just walked into the Capitol. If they were BLM, they would not have been prosecuted. Then there’s other examples of people that probably did commit misconduct, they may have been violent, but to say it’s an act of terrorism when it was basically a protest that devolved into a riot, to do excessive sentences— you can look at, okay maybe they were guilty, but 22 years if other people that did other things got six months?

DeSantis concluded, “I think we need a single standard of justice, and so we’ll use pardons and commutations as appropriate to ensure that everyone’s treated equally, and as we know, a lot of people with the BLM riots, they didn’t get prosecuted at all.”

Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his involvement on Jan. 6, while Zach Rehl received 15 years.

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio received the largest sentence, 22 years in prison, despite the fact that he was not even in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

Watch above via Newsmax.