Kinzinger Breaks Down Why He ‘Absolutely’ Believes Donald Trump Is ‘Guilty of a Crime’
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he believes former President Donald Trump is “guilty of a crime” for his behavior surrounding the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“After all you have learned as a member of the committee. On a personal basis. So not speaking for the committee, but just you personally, do you think that Donald Trump has committed a prosecutable crime related to January 6th and the and the attempt to overturn the election?” Tapper asked.
“Look, I have to caveat it with that. I’m not a Justice Department official. They have different levels of standards. I think he’s guilty of a crime,” Kinzinger replied, adding:
I mean, look, he knew what he did. We’ve made that clear. He knew what was happening prior to January 6th. He pressured the Justice Department officials to say, ‘Hey, just say the election was stolen and leave the rest to me.’ And the Republicans all need to put the stamp of approval on it.
And then you look at the 187 minutes where he sat in his office. Not indecisive. I think indecisive would be, you know, probably complimentary to him. He was actively resisting pressure from his family and from his staff to stop that from happening. And when he finally saw that law enforcement had turned the tide and that the occupation wasn’t going to going to succeed, only then did he typically come out.
“I think he is absolutely guilty, if he is not guilty of some kind of a crime. I mean, what we’ve basically said is presidents are above the law and they can do everything short of a coup as long as it doesn’t succeed,” the outgoing Republican said.
“Your chairman, Democrat Bennie Thompson, said that in addition to criminal referrals, there could be other categories of referrals, such as referrals to the House Ethics Committee for ethics violations,” Tapper continued, noting:
CNN has reported that Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry, for example, wanted the federal government to, quote, seize, to, quote, ‘preserve voting machines.’ He wanted them seized. Marjorie Taylor Greene told Trump she wanted she told Mark Meadows that President Trump should impose martial law, which she misspelled. Congressman Norman. Also martial law, which he also misspelled, or these are the kinds of people that might be getting ethics committee referrals.
“I mean, certainly if they resisted a subpoena, that’s the kind of thing we’re going to consider,” Kinzinger replied.
“Look, we know we’re coming to the end of the term here. Republicans are going to be in the majority. But I think it is important for us to make the standard, which is like, look, you’re you’re in a body here, an investigative body at this point, and we’re asking for information from you,” he continued, concluding:
And you didn’t obey it. You didn’t you didn’t follow through on that. Now, a lot of these people that you just named will be leading investigations themselves and wondering why people won’t react to subpoenas. It’s a power we have that’s important. Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to pursue much deeper because of the end of the term.
But I do think the again, the Justice Department is probably looking at what they need to look at. And, you know, I wouldn’t feel too comfortable if I was somebody calling for martial law. A United States congressman calling for martial law.
Watch the full clip above via CNN
