Will free US Capitol Hill riots ‘hostages’ if elected president: Donald Trump

Former US president Donald Trump on Monday (local time) said one of his ‘first acts’ would be closing the border between the US and Mexico if he was re-elected to office.

He also said he would free the suspects who are in jail in connection with the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. The 77-year-old Republican leader has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration if elected for a second four-year term in office. During the first term between 2016 and 2020, the Trump administration erected new barriers along the US-Mexico border.

“My first acts as your next president will be to close the border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and free the January 6 hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

On January 6, 2021, thousands of people stormed the US Capitol after Trump delivered a speech to his supporters while falsely claiming that the 2020 presidential election result, which Democrat Joe Biden won, was a “fraud”.

Hundreds have been imprisoned on charges of rioting, unlawful behaviour and misconduct.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court has set April 25 as the date it will hear Trump’s claim of presidential immunity from prosecution on charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, news agency Reuters reported.

Trump, the first former president to face criminal charges, is poised to become the Republican nominee to challenge Biden in the November 5 election.

The former president has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges linked to his actions leading to the Capitol riots.