OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told CNN on Thursday 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.”
But that is in dispute.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, said in an initial investigative report in January that the committee “deleted records and hid evidence” ahead of Republicans taking the House majority during the 2022 election cycle.
“THE SELECT COMMITTEE DELETED RECORDS AND HID EVIDENCE – Reps. Thompson and [Vice Chair Liz] Cheney failed to turn over video recordings of witness interviews and depositions despite using these recordings in their high-profile, primetime hearings. The Subcommittee recovered over one hundred deleted or password-protected files, including some files that were deleted days before Republicans took the majority. They also hid multiple transcribed interviews of witnesses who had firsthand knowledge of Trump‘s actions on January 6,” the report found.
Trump has repeatedly claimed the committee deleted and destroyed evidence, including this year in a Truth Social post singling out Cheney, Fox News noted at the time.
“Why did American Disaster Liz Cheney … ILLEGALLY DELETE & DESTROY most of the evidence, and related items, from the January 6th Committee of Political Thugs and Misfits. THIS ACT OF EXTREME SABOTAGE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MY LAWYERS TO PROPERLY PREPARE FOR, AND PRESENT, A PROPER DEFENSE OF THEIR CLIENT, ME. All of the information on Crazy Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers that I offered to to [sic] guard the Capitol Building, and beyond, is gone,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Jan. 1, 2024.
Loudermilk’s office released transcripts of a previously “withheld” committee interview with Anthony Ornato, a former White House deputy chief of staff under the Trump administration. The transcripts reportedly contradict the committee’s findings by suggesting there is evidence that the Trump White House requested National Guard assistance for January 6.
Loudermilk’s committee also discovered other hidden evidence: That then-President Trump specifically ordered military brass and top civilian Pentagon leaders to “do whatever it takes” to secure the U.S. Capitol Building three days prior to the riot.
But they defied him.
“There is absolutely no way I was putting U.S. military forces at the Capitol, period,” then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller told the Defense Department inspector general during a March 2021 interview, capturing the outright defiance of Trump’s order.
Ironically, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered thousands of armed National Guard troops to the Capitol and throughout Washington, D.C., following the riot and for months after President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
