Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told CNN Thursday he would accept a preemptive pardon from President Joe Biden shielding members of the Jan. 6 House select committee from political retribution.
Thompson, who chaired the eight-person bipartisan committee investigating President-elect Donald Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, maintained that he and the other committee members had done nothing wrong.
But in the wake of comments Trump has made about the members belonging behind bars, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Thompson if he would accept a pardon.
“Trump is saying you should go to jail,” Acosta said. “Are you worried about him or the FBI coming after you?”
Thompson replied:
Well, you know, we are members of Congress. We operate based on our direction from Congress. There are specific laws that give security to members of Congress. I hope the president would take that into consideration. But to be honest with you, Jim, we’ve not done anything wrong.
Acosta responded by noting there was chatter that the Biden administration was discussing broad pardons for people Trump might seek to go after.
“Apparently, the White House is discussing preemptive pardons for people who may be targeted by Trump when he gets back in office,” Acosta said. “Do you want the president to offer some kind of pardon to you?”
Thompson concluded:
The president, it’s his prerogative. If he offers it, to me or other members of the committee, I think it
– I would accept it, but it’s his choice. I think the staff of the committee who did a wonderful job; I think the witnesses who were primarily Republicans did a great job under oath. They or we were not found to have perjured themselves or anything like that. There is nothing on the record that is not on point. We’ve had two years of review by Republican chairpersons, and they found nothing wrong.
Trump told NBC News Sunday that every member of the committee “should go to jail” but said he would not use the Justice Department to seek retribution against them.
Watch above via CNN.