Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) called on President Biden to pardon the members of Congress who investigated President-elect Trump's role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Sanders appeared on NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning and said, “You know, when President Trump says he's going to send the people who were on the January 6th committee to prison, it's like a template. He sounds like a corrupt dictator.”
“So I hope that there will be an FBI and a Department of Justice that will do their best to protect the civil liberties of the American people and protect American democracy,” he added.
President Trump has promised to consider pardoning the rioters within his first hours in office.
But Sanders said Biden should grant a preemptive pardon to the entire committee on Jan. 6.
“I think he might want to take it very seriously,” he told host Kristen Welker.
Sanders predicted that the next Trump administration would be an administration bent on revenge through “authoritarianism.”
“This is what authoritarianism is. That's what dictatorship is all about,” he said.
“We don’t arrest elected officials who disagree with us.”
President Trump has primarily criticized House committee members, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who strongly opposed the move throughout the campaign.
But Cheney said the former president's actions warrant a formal investigation.
“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. Mr. Trump was brutally beaten by police officers. “For hours, he refused to tell the rioters to leave while watching on television as the Capitol was stormed,” he said in a statement to The Hill.
“This was the worst constitutional violation by a president in our nation's history. Donald Trump's suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions be imprisoned is a strong commitment to the rule of law and to our nation. It's a continuation of Trump's attack on his base.”
The Hill has reached out to the Trump team for comment.
