WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned approximately 1,500 criminal defendants and commuted the sentences of a dozen others in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, a move that some Republican senators opposed.

Some Republican senators have specifically criticized pardons for those convicted of violence against police, while others have declined to defend Trump's move.

"I'm disappointed in this," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, adding that she was thinking of the hundreds of police officers who defended the Capitol that day. “I do worry about the message that is being sent to these great men and women who support us.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy added: "I think it's important to attack anyone, whether you're in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport, Monroe, Lafayette, Alexandria, Lake Charles or Washington, D.C. It’s all wrong, but attacking a police officer is certainly wrong,” R-La. "I'm a big shot behind the scenes."

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Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said he was still working out the details of the pardon and commutation but said "I'm surprised that this is a full pardon."

“I just can’t agree with that,” Tillis said of Trump’s behavior. “I’m about to file two bills that would increase penalties for murdering a police officer to up to the death penalty, and increase penalties and create a federal crime for assaulting a police officer — which should give you everything you need. Know where I stand. "

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-Va., said she sympathized with the family of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was attacked during the attack and died. Died one day later. The Sicknick family described the pardon in a statement Tuesday as "a reversal of the justice that had been provided by the court's previous sentencing of Bryan's attacker."

"I understand why they feel that way," Capito said. "I think personally, I have a great appreciation for the Capitol Police and I hope they know that and appreciate that."

It's a familiar position for Republican lawmakers who served during Trump's first term. A day after Trump was sworn in for the second time, reporters asked Republican senators at the Capitol a series of questions on topics ranging from the Jan. 6 pardons and Trump's first executive orders to criticism of Trump concerns for presidential nominees.

On Monday night, Trump commuted the sentences of people associated with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were convicted just hours after taking the oath in the Capitol Rotunda, the site of a Jan. 6 clash. There is a crime of seditious conspiracy. He also issued a full, complete and unconditional pardon "to all other individuals convicted of crimes that occurred at or near the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021," including those who assaulted law enforcement officers.

Police unions say more than 140 Capitol Police and Washington, D.C., police officers were attacked and injured in the Jan. 6 attack as thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election Year winning ace.

Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, said she drew a distinction between those who "got caught up in the crowd that day" and those who "attacked police officers with fists, flag poles, pepper spray and destroyed property." ".

"I don't think these people deserve clemency," she said, adding that she also opposed Biden's move to preemptively pardon family members before leaving the White House. "This has been a terrible week for our justice system."

Tillis and others echoed Collins' concerns about Biden's pardons.

"I hope that anyone who is critical of what happened last night will also be highly critical of the massive excesses of President Biden's future pardons," Tillis said.

There is also a group of Republican senators who will not directly criticize Trump's pardon on January 6, but will not publicly support this move.

"The president made the decision. You have to ask him. I'm not going to defend it," said Republican Sen. Mike Rounds.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who shook his fist at Trump supporters before they stormed the Capitol four years ago, said he would not pardon the Jan. 6 execution if he were president Violent individuals. But he added that Trump campaigned on pardoning these people and then followed through on it.

"He kept his campaign promises," Hawley told reporters.

Other Republicans brushed aside questions about the pardons. When asked about Trump's decision, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told NBC News that he was "looking forward to the next four years, not the last four years."

"Would you ask Biden the same question?" Thune said when asked what message that sent to the officers who were assaulted that day.

Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma declined to comment on the pardons, saying Trump was issuing dozens of important executive orders and he was only asked about them.

"Everyone is asking me about J6," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa. “None of you asked about Biden’s pardon.”

Several House Republicans have been personally lobbying Trump to pardon criminal defendants charged in the Jan. 6 attack. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a close Trump ally who visited the Jan. 6 rioters several times in prison, said on the fourth anniversary of the attack that she had directly A request for a full pardon was made to Trump.

They "were treated as terrorists in their own countries. Yes, I think they all should be pardoned," Green told reporters on January 6 this year. "I believe this abuse of our justice system should no longer be allowed in this country. It is being used as a political weapon against people protesting the 2020 election."

Congressional Democrats blasted Trump's pardon in statements and interviews.

"House Republicans are celebrating pardons for the bloodthirsty thugs who violently attacked police on January 6, 2021. What happened to the blue people?" House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement stated in a statement.

"Far-right extremists have become the party of lawlessness and chaos. Never lecture America again. About anything," he said.