WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump wants to jail former and current members of Congress who investigated his incitement of the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and plans to pardon the rioters immediately after he takes office, he said NBC News Sunday.
On the network’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker,” Trump said that the heads of the congressional special committee investigating the Capitol insurrection “lied” and “should go to jail.”
Trump singled out the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and a senior Black member of Congress, and former senior House Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming Co-Chairman The special committee is set to investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
“Cheney did something that is inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the unselected committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps,” Trump said told NBC anchor Welker.
Jason Miller, an adviser to Trump, walked back the president-elect’s comments on Monday. Müller told CNN said Trump’s comments about jailing committee members on Jan. 6 were taken out of context and that he just wants his administration to “apply the law equally” to everyone.
President Joe Biden is reportedly considering preemptive pardons for Cheney and former Democratic congressman and novel Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who also sat on the panel, along with others who media say could be targeted by the novel Trump administration Reports citing anonymous White House sources.
Trump takes office on January 20th.
Cheney: “Here is the truth”
In one opinion On Sunday, Cheney described Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 as “the worst violation of our Constitution by a president in the history of our country.”
“Here is the truth: Donald Trump tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power,” Cheney said. “He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where he attacked police officers, broke into the building and stopped the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was attacked, and for hours refused to order the mob to leave the Capitol.”
The Justice Department has charged just over 1,560 people with involvement in the attack. Of those, 210 were convicted at trial and 979 pleaded guilty to charges including assaulting police officers, trespassing and bringing deadly weapons into the Capitol Latest Department data. That means more than 1,000 people could potentially be pardoned, depending on Trump’s decisions.
“As has been demonstrated in court, the weapons used and carried on Capitol grounds include firearms; OC spray; Taser; edged weapons, including swords, axes, hatchets and knives; and makeshift weapons such as destroyed office furniture, fences, bicycle racks, stolen riot shields, baseball bats, hockey sticks, flagpoles, PVC pipes and reinforced knuckle gloves,” according to the Justice Department.
Thompson said Monday that committee members were “simply not afraid of his recent threats.”
“Our committee was fully authorized by the House of Representatives, all rules were properly followed, and our work product stands on its own. In fact, in the two years since we completed our work, no court or legal entity has refuted it,” Thompson said in a statement provided to States Newsroom on Monday.
“Donald Trump and his henchmen can make all the claims they want — but no election, no conspiracy theory, no pardon, and no threat of vindictive prosecution can rewrite history or eliminate his responsibility for the deadly violence that terrible day.” We have opposed him before and will continue to do so,” said Thompson, who has served as the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee for the past two years.
First day pardons
Trump told Welker that he planned to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day in office. He said they violently attacked police officers because “they had no choice” and that their lives were “destroyed” after they were charged for their actions.
During the wide-ranging interview, Trump also blamed former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the attack and repeated debunked claims that “Antifa” activists were part of a conspiracy to lure his supporters into attacks.
video Trump’s speech that day shows him calling on his supporters to march on the Capitol and call on Congress to “do the right thing” by refusing to certify Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump also falsely told Welker that the committee had destroyed his investigative materials and evidence on January 6th.
In fact, there are hundreds of witness interview transcripts, videos, and online exhibits publicly accessible. The committee’s work culminated in an almost 900-page finale report This remains available online and can be easily found with a straightforward internet search.
Kinzinger: “We didn’t do anything wrong”
Former Republican Adam Kinzinger, the only other Republican sitting on the committee as of Jan. 6, said in a statement Sunday that Trump’s threat was “nothing more than the desperate howls of a man who knows that history will shame him.” will look at.”
“To be clear: we did nothing wrong. “The work of the committee on January 6 was guided by facts, the Constitution and the pursuit of accountability – principles that appear alien to Trump,” said Kinzinger of Illinois. published on Substack.
Trump did not specifically name Kinzinger in his interview.
The White House did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment on Biden’s alleged consideration of preemptive pardons.
Last updated on December 9, 2024 at 8:17 p.m
