Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would appoint a special counsel to look into whether the sentences for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol are correct.
He said during an interview on NewsNation Monday that his purpose “is not to exonerate those people, but rather just to restore peace.”
“I think, you know, we’re living in a time when Americans don’t trust their government anymore. And that is really what the problem is. There is no trust in government, and we need to restore that trust,” he said.
His statement comes after his campaign caught flak for sending out an email last week that described those involved in Jan. 6 as “activists” who were “stripped of their constitutional liberties.”
Campaign spokeswoman Stefanie Spear later walked back the email.
“That statement was an error that does not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s views,” she said. “It was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process.”
Mr. Kennedy said on the news show, “It started with an email that went out about Jan. 6 from my campaign that did not reflect my views about Jan. 6, and it was followed very quickly by a press release that had a factual error in it. All I can say is: This is my responsibility. It’s my campaign. We have a lot of hardworking people on the campaign, but we’re all drinking from fire hoses.”
He said he believes Jan. 6 was a “protest that turned into a riot,” but that labeling the event as an insurrection would depend on a person’s definition of the word.
“I think there were people who wanted insurrection,” he said. “But I don’t know what your definition of an insurrection is. If your definition is armed men who are … intending to take over the United States government, it wasn’t that. I think there were people there who wanted to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the other.”
He added, “I would say it was a very traumatic day in our nation’s history and people committed criminal acts. Those people deserve to be in jail.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.