Excerpts from an email from U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL) to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows requesting pardon for members of Congress were shown on screen during the fifth public hearing of the U.S. House Election Commission. to investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, June 23, 2022.
Jim Burg Reuters
Up to half a dozen Republican lawmakers, who strongly supported then-President Donald Trump’s false allegations of ballot fraud in the 2020 election, sought pardon after the Capitol uprising on January 6, 2021, according to testimonies and evidence presented in Thursday in the commission for election of the Chamber, which is investigating the attack.
Trump also spoke of issuing so-called general pardons to members of his family and White House staff before he left office in January 2021, according to former White House aide John McCenty.
“The only reason I know to ask for pardon is because you think you committed a crime,” said Adam Kingsinger of Illinois, one of the two Republicans in the Capitol riot group, at the end of the hearing. .
Five members of the GOP Chamber have sought clemency from Trump through the office of White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, according to Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Meadows aide.
She identified them as Mo Brooks of Alabama, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Louis Homert of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
Hutchinson also testified that she heard that Marjorie’s representative, Taylor Green of Georgia, had asked for a pardon from the White House attorney’s office.
In an email from January 11, 2021 to the White House, which was shown at Thursday’s hearing, Brooks not only asked for pardon for himself and Gates, but also for “any congressman and senator who votes to reject the Electoral College’s proposal.” Arizona and Pennsylvania ”five days earlier, on Jan. 6.
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It was on Jan. 6 that a special joint session of Congress convened to confirm the victory of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College was called off hours after a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and stormed congressional halls.
Gaetz began seeking clemency in December 2020, according to Hutchinson, who added: “I’m not sure why.”
The video shows a discussion of the president’s pardons during the fifth hearing by the House Election Commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol at the Cannon House office building on June 23, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images News Getty Images
Former White House lawyer Eric Hershman, in his own video testimony, said of Gaetz’s request: “The general tone was, ‘We can be persecuted because we defended the president’s position on these things.’ “
“The forgiveness he asked for was as broad as you can describe, from the beginning of time until today, for all sorts of things,” Hershman said.
Gaetz, who remains under criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice in an investigation into possible sexual trafficking of a minor girl, angered the commission on January 6 in a tweet after the hearing.
But his office did not answer NBC News when asked if he had asked for a pardon from Trump.
“The January 6 committee is an unconstitutional political show,” Goetz tweeted. “He is rapidly losing the interest of the American people and is now resorting to forcing federal law enforcement against political opponents.
Green’s office also did not explicitly deny whether she had asked for clemency, but recommended NBC to a tweet she posted following Hutchinson’s testimony.
“Saying ‘heard’ means you don’t know,” Green wrote. “The spread of gossip and lies is exactly what the Witch Hunt Committee was doing on January 6.”
Video of US Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL) shown on screen during the fifth hearing of the House of Representatives Selection Committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol at the Cannon House office building in Washington, DC , June 23, 2022
Brendan Smyalowski AFP | Getty Images
Mackenty was asked in his video testimony if Trump had considered issuing a full pardon to anyone involved on Jan. 6.
“I heard it mentioned,” Mackenty said.
Asked if he knew that Trump was talking about a potential pardon for family members. Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were senior White House advisers.
“I know he hinted at a full January 6 pardon for everyone, but I think he did it for all the staff and everyone involved,” Mackenty said. “Not on January 6, but just before he left office, I know he talked about it,” Mackenty said.
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