
During his second inaugural address on Monday, January 20, President Donald Trump reiterated his plan to pardon the January 6, 2021 rioters — who he considers “hostages.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that they were treated unfairly by former President Joe Biden and his attorney general, Merrick Garland. But police officers who were injured during that attack have a very different view. And some relatives of the defendants reject Trump’s vigorous defense of them.
One of those relatives is Jackson Reffitt, whose militia-friendly father Guy Reffitt was among the January 6 defendants. Jackson Reffitt, now in his early twenties, turned his father in to the FBI and testified against him at his trial. And Guy Reffitt received a six-year prison sentence.
During a Monday-night appearance on CNN, Jackson Reffitt discussed President Trump’s pardons of the January 6 rioters.
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When host Erin Burnett asked for his reaction, Guy Reffitt’s son responded, “I’m honestly flabbergasted that we’ve gotten to this point. I mean, I’m terrified. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ve taken as many precautions as I could recently; I’ve picked up a gun. I’ve moved. And I’ve gotten myself away from what I thought would be a dangerous situation in staying where I thought my dad could find me. Or other people, you know — people that are going to feel so validated by these actions, by this pardon.”
Jackson Reffitt continued, “I’m just so filled with paranoia about what could happen. I’ve been waiting all day from a call from the [Department of Justice] to just figure it out and know what to do next, because right now, I don’t other than just sit around and talk about it.”
Burnett asked Jackson Reffitt if he was “scared about what could happen from your father, specifically, or someone else” — to which he responded, “Yeah.”
“I don’t know what my father is thinking,” Jackson Reffitt told Burnett. “I talked to my father before, but I thought it had gotten better. And it really hadn’t. My dad is still involved with these militias. He still talks with, you know, a martyr status…. He is more galvanized than ever…. My mom, too.”
Jackson Reffitt added, “My sisters are waiting outside the jail cell right now. And you know, I feel for them…. But I can’t feel safe.”
Watch the full video below or at this link.