Former President Donald Trump called on Friday for those arrested in connection to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to be released, responding to the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier in the day that prosecutors in at least one case improperly charged a defendant.
The Supreme Court’s ruling could have wide-reaching implications for hundreds of defendants charged in connection with the riot.
“Free the [Jan. 6] hostages now. They should free them now for what they’ve gone through,” Trump said during a rally in Virginia. “They’ve been waiting for this decision for a long time. They’ve been waiting for a long time. That was a great answer, that was a great thing for people who’ve been so horribly treated.”
The comments came hours after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the federal obstruction charges faced by about 350 Jan. 6 defendants must be dropped if prosecutors cannot prove rioters intended to impede the tallying of physical electoral vote certificates when they stormed the Capitol.
