(NewsNation) — Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would appoint a special counsel to determine whether the sentences of Jan. 6 convicts are appropriate, adding that he believes it would help “restore peace” and trust in the American government.
“My purpose is not to exonerate those people, but rather to restore peace,” Kennedy told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo on Monday. “I think 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.”
Kennedy’s campaign last week sent out a fundraising email that referred to people facing charges for the Jan. 6, 2021 riot as “activists” who were “stripped of their constitutional liberties.”
“We made a couple of mistakes,” Kennedy said on “CUOMO.” “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.”
Campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear said the emailed statement “was an error” that had been inserted by a new marketing contractor and “slipped through the normal approval process.”
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) responded to the comment Friday, claiming Kennedy’s campaign has been “hijacked by MAGA.” `
The statement didn’t reflect Kennedy’s views and the campaign has terminated its contract with the vendor, Spear said.
In another email to supporters Friday, Kennedy said that ”reasonable people,” including Trump opponents, have told him there’s “little evidence of a true insurrection.”
Pushed on the matter Monday, Kennedy said that he believes the events of Jan. 6 were a “protest that turned into a riot” and that whether he believes it was an insurrection depends on how the word is defined.
“If your definition is armed men who are intending to take over the United States government, then it wasn’t that,” Kennedy said. “I think there were people there who wanted to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the other’s. 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.”
Kennedy, however, said he’s heard concerns about the sentences people convicted for their role in Jan. 6 received. That, he said, is why — if elected president — he would appoint a special counsel to review whether those sentences were appropriate.
“If there’s large numbers of people who see the world in one way, even if I see it in a different way, I’m going to listen to them and I’m going to fairly look at their point of view,” he said.