Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tried to distinguish the differences between former President Joe Biden’s controversial pardons and President Donald Trump‘s.

Trump spent his first hours in office issuing mass clemency for the 1,583 people who faced charges for their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Meanwhile, Biden preemptively pardoned the members and witnesses of the defunct Jan. 6 committee, Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and his own siblings, their spouses, and his son, Hunter Biden.

“What I think is that [Biden] was worried that, given all of Trump’s rhetoric, that Trump was going to go after his family and close associates. All right, that’s a concern, but don’t equate the two,” Sanders said on CNN News’s The Source on Tuesday. “What Trump is saying to the world is that it is okay for you to attack police officers when you have a mind to do that,” he said. “And I think that is an outrageous message to send to the world.”

While Sanders left the door open to let others decide whether Biden was right or wrong to pardon his family members, he asserted, “It has nothing to do with what Trump did today.”

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed their disapproval of the mass clemency for the Jan. 6 rioters. About 200 people pleaded guilty to felonies that included assaulting officers.

These clemencies come after Vice President JD Vance assured pardons were coming for those who “protested peacefully” in the days leading up to Inauguration Day. At the time, Vance said, “If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned.”

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Trump stood by his mass pardons, commutations, and clemencies for those defendants and convicts involved in the riots.

“These people have already served years in prison,” Trump said. “It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane. It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”