A little more than four years after Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of his electoral defeat, Idaho Republican leaders evaded questions about Trump’s decision to pardon rioters involved in the violent insurrection. While some Republicans, including Rep. Michael Baumgartner, criticized pardoning those who attacked police officers, Idaho’s top leaders, including Sen. Mike Crapo, Gov. Brad Little, and Sen. Jim Risch, refused to condemn Trump’s actions or address the implications of excusing such violence.

The Spokesman-Review: After Trump pardons Jan. 6 rioters, some of his Northwest supporters disagree

• In an interview on Monday, before Trump issued the pardons, Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho said he couldn’t comment on Trump’s repeated pledge to pardon convicted rioters because he didn’t know what the president had said…

• “I haven’t followed closely what President Trump has said that he may do or not do in terms of pardons,” Crapo said. “So I guess I just have to defer right now responding to that, because I don’t know exactly what he may have said or may be thinking of.”

• Through a spokeswoman, Crapo declined to comment on the pardons on Tuesday.

• After watching Trump address an overflow crowd at the Capitol following his inauguration, Gov. Brad Little of Idaho said in a brief interview that his opinion on pardons for convicted rioters “depends on what the crime is, obviously.”

• When asked if he would be in favor of pardons for certain crimes committed during the Capitol riot, Little declined to weigh in on the president’s decisions.
• “Well, I mean, we pardon people all the time for a variety of reasons, so you’ve just got to look at the reasons,” he said. “We’ve got a lot bigger fish to fry than that.”
• Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, whose Capitol office was ransacked by rioters, took a similar approach. When asked before the inauguration about Trump’s promise to pardon the rioters, Risch said, “I don’t want to go there. He’s going to do what he’s going to do, and we’ll talk again if he does.”
• Risch said he wouldn’t talk about Trump’s pardons at the Capitol on Tuesday. When asked about Biden’s clemency orders, the senator invoked his past as a county prosecutor.
• When asked if he had similar feelings about the people convicted of attacking police officers at the Capitol, Risch abruptly ended the interview.
• “You’re going where I told you not to go,” he said.