President Donald Trump said those incarcerated for the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol are “living in hell.” He plans to pardon them on his first day in office. 

Trump made his most sweeping comments since winning the election in an exclusive interview with NBC News' “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, as Fox News reported.

He also said he won't turn the Justice Department against his political opponents and threatened that some House committee members investigating the Jan. 6 attack “should go to jail.”

On his first day in office, Trump promised legal aid to the Jan. 6 rioters who endured a “very nasty system.”

From Trump

“I’m going to be acting very quickly. First day,” Trump said, before talking about their imprisonment, “They’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”

Trump said “may be some exceptions” to his pardons “if somebody was radical, crazy,” citing debunked claims that anti-Trump agents and law enforcement operatives infiltrated the crowd.

Even when Welker inquired about individuals who had confessed to assaulting police officers, Trump did not rule out pardoning anyone who had pleaded guilty.

“Because they had no choice,” Trump said.

About the Arrests

More than 1,251 individuals have been found guilty or pled guilty out of 1,572 individuals who were accused with the attack.

Federal prison terms for at least 645 of these individuals range from a few days to twenty-two years.

There are around 250 individuals currently doing time in prison for various crimes. A federal judge has ordered the pretrial detention of a small number of them.

More Trump Comments

Trump suggested that the more than 900 civilians who pleaded guilty to the attack but weren't accused of assaulting officers were unfairly pressured.

“I know the system. The system’s a very corrupt system,” Trump said. “They say to a guy, ‘You’re going to go to jail for two years or for 30 years.’ And these guys are looking, their whole lives have been destroyed. For two years, they’ve been destroyed. But the system is a very nasty system.”

The sprawling Jan. 6 probe includes rioters caught on film assaulting officers and those who confessed under oath, charging them with unlawful parading to seditious plot.

Defendants in custody on Jan. 6 include Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy, a defendant convicted of plotting to kill FBI agents, a defendant charged with firing gunshots, and an individual arrested outside former President Barack Obama's home after Trump posted a screenshot with the address.

Much Ado About Jack

Trump said he would not order Pam Bondi, his attorney general nominee, to investigate special counsel Jack Smith, who filed two federal cases against Trump that were abandoned after the election.

Trump labeled Smith “deranged” and “very corrupt," but said he said he'd let Bondi decide and wouldn't order her to pursue Smith.

“I want her to do what she wants to do,” Trump said. “I’m not going to instruct her to do it.”

Trump claimed that members of the House Jan. 6 committee had “lied” and “destroyed a whole year and a half worth of testimony.”

He blamed Republican Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, a Trump opponent who left Congress, and Democrat Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi, the committee head, for destroying their investigation's evidence and stating “those people committed a major crime.”