Trump Pledges Fast Pardons of Rioters

President-elect Trump said his supporters convicted of attacking the US Capitol will not have to wait long to be pardoned once he takes office. "I'm going to be acting very quickly. First day," Trump said on NBC's Meet the Press. More than 1,251 people have been convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol, per NBC News. At least 645 of them have been given some amount of time behind bars. "They've been in there for years," Trump said, "and they're in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn't even be allowed to be open." He feels differently about the House members who investigated the attack. "Honestly, they should go to jail," the president-elect said. Trump set out a series of priorities in the interview, his most sweeping since his election, and online on Sunday, involving:

• Retribution: Trump backed away a bit from his statement that he'd have a special prosecutor investigate President Biden, saying, "I'm not looking to go back into the past." He added the caveat, "unless I find something that I think is reasonable." Such decisions would be up to prospective Attorney General Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, his choice for FBI director, Trump said. But when asked about Patel's list of 60 people he claims to be members of a "deep state," Trump said his appointee would be obligated to investigate if "somebody was dishonest or crooked or a corrupt politician." He listed Republican Liz Cheney and Democrat Bennie Thompson as having destroyed evidence and committed "a major crime" in their work on the Jan. 6 House committee.
• Arrests: Trump maintained he would not order anybody to arrest Cheney, Thompson, or special counsel Jack Smith, saying that's up to his appointees—though he has made his preferences clear. Of Bondi, Trump said, "I want her to do what she wants to do."
• Also on Day 1: His inauguration address on Jan. 20 will deliver a message of unity and success, Trump said, per the New York Times. The first one, which was focused on "American carnage," went in a different direction.

• Immigration: He'll try to end automatic citizenship for children born in the US to immigrant parents, though the president-elect indicated he'll look for a plan that would keep Dreamers—who were brought to the US as children—in the country. "You have to" deport everyone who's in the US illegally, Trump said.
• Syria: "This is not our fight," Trump posted after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad and his government to rebel forces, per the Washington Post. "Let it play out. Do not get involved." He also said, "Syria is a mess, but is not our friend," per the Hill.
• Ukraine: Trump took advantage of that collapse to lean on Russia, saying it's weakened now and too busy with its invasion of Ukraine to help stop the rebels in Syria—"a country they have protected for years." He called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. "I know Vladimir well," Trump posted. "This is his time to act. … The World is waiting!"
• The Fed: Trump has been indirect about whether he'd remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who has said he wouldn't resign even if asked to because he doesn't believe the president has that authority. Trump went back and forth on such scenarios on Meet the Press. But when asked whether he'd try to fire Powell, per the Times, Trump said: "No, I don't think so. I don't see it."

(More President-elect Trump stories.)