President-elect Donald Trump said on his first day in office he will begin work on pardoning those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“I’m going to act very quickly,” Mr. Trump said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” Sunday. “First day.”

This was his first major sit-down interview with a news outlet after winning the Nov. 5 election.

“Those people have suffered long and hard. And there may be some exceptions to it. I have to look,” he said, adding that “these people have suffered. Their lives have been destroyed.”

Asked about the ones who attacked police officers, Mr. Trump argued that “they had no choice.”

“I know the system. The system’s a very corrupt system,” he 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.”

It’s been almost four years since the Capitol attack, and over 1,500 people have been charged for their involvement. Roughly 140 police officers were assaulted that day, and more than 500 people have been charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees.” 

An estimated 163 people have been charged with “using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.”

Mr. Trump argued that where the individuals are being held “shouldn’t even be allowed to be open,” calling it a “filthy, disgusting place.”