Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) says President Biden will pre-emptively pardon members of Congress who served on the House committee tasked with investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. I poured cold water on my thoughts.
“I strongly oppose preemptive pardons,” Blumenthal said Wednesday, citing his credibility as a federal prosecutor and state attorney general for nearly 20 years. It will be received,” he told CNN's Jim Acosta. .
“And people should know that walking into a courtroom and filing an accusation is a far cry from proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” he continued in the interview. Highlighted by Mediaite. “There is no evidence of wrongdoing against the members of the January 6th committee that introduced these articles of impeachment or brought the charges.”
The commission's final report, released in 2022, includes several legislative recommendations, including barring Trump from holding future office as president under the 14th Amendment. The committee also argued that the former president should not be allowed to hold government jobs because the amendment's insurrection clause prohibits persons “involved in insurrection” from holding such posts. did.
Blumenthal's opposition comes after President-elect Trump expressed openness to jailing members of the Jan. 6 task force in an interview on NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday. This is what came out.
But some members of the task force have fired back at Trump, saying the crimes surrounding the riot were committed by Trump and his supporters, not by those who investigated the incident afterwards.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who became one of President Trump's most vocal critics in the wake of the Capitol riot, called the threat an “attack on the rule of law.”
“Here's the truth: Donald Trump tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power,” Cheney said in a statement provided to The Hill.
“He mobilized an angry mob and sent it to the U.S. Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building, and halted the official counting of electoral votes,” she wrote. “For hours, Trump refused to tell rioters to leave while watching on television as police officers were severely beaten and the Capitol was stormed.”
Blumenthal suggested Wednesday that the president-elect will likely face intense scrutiny over any attempt to jail committee members.
“Such baseless and unwarranted accusations against people who were simply doing their jobs will ultimately cause a backlash against Donald Trump. They will be acquitted, and their defense and I think the defense fund should pay for the investigation,'' the Connecticut Democrat said.
His comments came after formal deliberations began in the White House Counsel's Office, where Biden consulted with members of his senior team about using pardon power to protect Trump's critics.
