JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Members of the special committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol are hitting back at President-elect Donald Trump after he called for their imprisonment, including U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).
Thompson served as the chairman of the Bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. He released a statement about Trump’s recent statements.
Donald Trump has shamefully undermined the rule of law, degraded our democracy, and eroded our Constitution for years, and his latest lies about the work of the January 6th Select Committee are just the latest installment. But let me be clear:
Those of us who investigated his central role in the January 6th insurrection are simply not afraid of his most recent threats. Our committee was fully authorized by the House, all rules were properly followed, and our work product stands on its own. In fact, in the two years since we have completed our work, no court or legal body has refuted it.
Donald Trump and his minions can make all the assertions they want – but no election, no conspiracy theory, no pardon, and no threat of vengeful prosecution can rewrite history or wipe away his responsibility for the deadly violence on that horrific day. We stood up to him before, and we will continue to do so.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)
Trump levied his call for members of the Jan. 6 select committee to go to jail during a Sunday appearance on “Meet the Press,” his first interview with a major network following his presidential victory.
The president-elect sought to strike a conciliatory tone, at one point, telling moderator Kristen Welker that he would seek “retribution” — which he threatened to carry out against his foes on the campaign trail — through “success,” a change in timbre for the brash Republican.
“I’m really looking to make our country successful. I’m not looking to go back into the past,” Trump said. “I’m looking to make our country successful. Retribution will be through success.”
Minutes later, however, when asked if he would pardon himself, the president-elect claimed “I didn’t do anything wrong” before blaming lawmakers on the congressional panel for instigating the allegations against him — a complete 180 from his pacifying tone moments earlier.
“[Liz] Cheney was behind it. … And so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee,” Trump said. “Honestly, they should go to jail … for what they did.”
His remarks are renewing the clash over the riot at the Capitol almost four years ago, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked law enforcement officers and stormed into the building in a failed attempt to nullify the 2020 election results and keep Trump in office for another term. More than 140 law enforcement officers were injured, and three others died in the days that followed, including two by suicide. One rioter was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to enter the Speaker’s lobby abutting the House chamber.
In the aftermath of the attack, congressional leaders of both parties — including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — said Trump was responsible for the violence. But McConnell also fought to ensure that the Senate did not convict Trump after the House impeached him.
And McCarthy quickly changed his tune, making amends with Trump and refusing to have Republicans participate in the House investigation, leaving then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to choose all nine members of the select committee created for that purpose. Two of them — then Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) — were Republicans.
At the end of 2022, the panel released its findings, which found Trump to be the driving force behind the violent attack — allegations that quickly made the members of the committee top targets of Trump and his supporters on and off of Capitol Hill.
Mychael Schnell, Mike Lillis, and The Hill contributed to this report.