Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson said that he would accept a preemptive pardon from President Joe Biden to protect members of the January 6 House Select Committee from potential political retribution.
Thompson, who chaired the eight-member Democrat-influenced committee investigating President-elect Donald Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots, insisted that neither he nor the other committee members had done anything improper.
In light of Trump’s recent remarks suggesting that committee members belong behind bars, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Thompson if he would accept a pardon.
“Trump is saying you should go to jail,” Acosta said. “Are you worried about him or the FBI coming after you?”
Well, you know, we are members of Congress. We operate based on our direction from Congress. There are specific laws that give security to members of Congress. I hope the president would take that into consideration. But to be honest with you, Jim, we’ve not done anything wrong,” he claimed.
Acosta indicated that the Biden administration was discussing potentially issuing broad pardons for individuals that Trump might seek to target, though the president-elect has repeatedly said he’s not interested in doing that.
“Apparently, the White House is discussing preemptive pardons for people who may be targeted by Trump when he gets back in office,” Acosta said. “Do you want the president to offer some kind of pardon to you?”
The president, it’s his prerogative. If he offers it, to me or other members of the committee, I think it – I would accept it, but it’s his choice,” the Mississippi Democrat responded.
“I think the staff of the committee who did a wonderful job; I think the witnesses who were primarily Republicans did a great job under oath. They or we were not found to have perjured themselves or anything like that. There is nothing on the record that is not on point,” he said.
Thompson added: “We’ve had two years of review by Republican chairpersons, and they found nothing wrong.”
In his first sit-down interview since winning the presidential election, Donald Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he remains committed to pardoning individuals convicted for their involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
In addition, the president-elect also stated that members of the Democrat-dominated House committee that claimed to investigate the incident “should go to jail.”
“Honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker. “So you think Liz Cheney should go to jail?” Welker asked.
“For what they did,” Trump responded.
However, Trump made it clear that he would not direct his FBI director or attorney general to do so, adding, “they’ll have to look at that, but I’m not going to — I’m going to focus on drill, baby, drill. I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases.”
The incoming commander-in-chief also intimated that he may try and take executive action to end so-called “birthright citizenship” — meaning the children of people in the country illegally automatically become American citizens when they’re born in the U.S., though he’ll likely face a legal challenge what will question the constitutionality of such an order.
Welker also questioned Trump about his plans for mass deportation.
“Well, I think you have to do it, and it’s a hard – it’s a very tough thing to do,” Trump said. “But you have to have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally. You know the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been on line for ten years to come into the country. And we’re going to make it very easy for people to come in in terms of they have to pass the test.”
Trump’s comments come as reports said that President Biden is considering preemptive pardons for several people including Cheney, her committee co-chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and former top immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
