Trump says Day 1 priority if he wins is releasing Jan. 6 rioters

WASHINGTON - Former President Donald Trump said his first-day agenda as president will include pardoning people convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, reviving his defense of the post-election insurrection that was part of his GOP primary campaign.

The GOP nominee-in-waiting now says that plans to "free" Jan. 6 prisoners as part of a first-day agenda that includes sealing the border and increasing oil and gas production.

"My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!" Trump said Monday on his Truth Social website.

Opponents of Trump said he is kowtowing to lawbreakers, in this case people who threatened violence in an effort to overturn their candidates' loss to President Joe Biden.

“Donald Trump has shown he’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to power – including excusing and encouraging political violence," Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign.

More than 1,300 people have been charged with various offenses related to the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021; about 500 people have been sentenced to prison terms.

During the Republican primary campaign, Trump often played up Jan. 6 issues because many of his supporters believed the defendants have been treated unfairly.

In a CNN town hall in New Hampshire in May, Trump said he was inclined to pardon a "large portion" of the Jan. 6 defendants.

"I am inclined to pardon many of them," Trump said. "I can't say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control."

Democrats said Trump is prepared to let all of them go, but voters will not permit it because they will not put him back in the White House.

"The American people haven’t forgotten the violent attack at our Capitol on January 6," Chitika said. "They know Trump is too dangerous to be let anywhere near the Oval Office again."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says Day 1 priority if he wins is releasing Jan. 6 rioters