Are these hunts for pardon’s admission’s of guilt?
Why are they on the government payroll as lawmakers?
What woulkd they do if the FBI comes for them?
Former Trump White House aides testified to the Jan. 6 select committee that sixHouse Republicans sought presidential pardons in the aftermath of the Capitol riot.
Why it matters: The testimony was played at the end of a hearing that included new details about lawmakers’ involvement in former President Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department to probe his voter fraud claims.
- Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) in particular was a champion of installing DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, a vocal believer of Trump’s claims, as acting attorney general.
Driving the news: According to the aides who testified, the following members sought pardons:
- Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
- Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
- Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.)
- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
- Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)
Details: Brooks emailed the White House requesting “general (all purpose) pardons” for himself, Gaetz and the 147 Republican House members and senatorswho voted against certifying Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s electors, according to Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).
- Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as an aide to White House chief of ataff Mark Meadows, testified to the panel that she personally heard from Biggs and Gohmert.
- Hutchinson also said she had heard that Greene reached out to the White House counsel’s office to ask for a pardon. She said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) “talked about … pardons but he never asked me for one.”
- John McEntee, the former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, said Trump “hinted at blanket pardon” for “everyone involved.”
What they’re saying: “The general tone was, ‘We may get prosecuted because we were defensive of the president’s positions on these things,'” former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann said in closed-door testimony.
- “The only reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you committed a crime,” said Kinzinger who led the hearing…..