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Rep. Pete Aguilar, the top Democrat who served on a congressional committee investigating President-elect Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, is not expecting favors from the outgoing commander-in-chief.
He said he believes President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon, which protects him from potential retaliation from President Trump, is unnecessary because the commission on Jan. 6 “did nothing wrong.” said.
“I don’t think a pardon is necessary. I support the work being done in committee,” Aguilar told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday.
The California Democrat also said he had “never asked for a pardon” nor had he spoken to anyone at the White House about it. Fox News Digital reached out to Aguilar to ask if he would accept if granted, but did not receive a response.
Lawmakers who served on the House committee investigating the January 6 incident are divided on the importance of preemptive pardons. Some fear this sets a bad precedent for future presidents, arguing that the Constitution’s speech and debate clause provides sufficient protection from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits over legislative activity. On the other hand, some people fear “retaliation” from President Trump and welcome the idea of pardon.
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U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, left, watches as the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 13, 2022. ) and Washington Metropolitan Police Department Police Officer Daniel Hodges. October 13, 2022.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), the former chairman of the Jan. 6 committee investigating President Trump, said he spoke with the White House last month about the possibility of granting pardons to members of Congress who served on the committee. He said he would accept it. If Biden is granted clemency, I will forgive him.
“I believe Donald Trump when he says he’s going to retaliate for this,” Thompson said this week. “When he says my name or Liz Cheney or anyone else’s name, I believe him.”
None of the commissioners other than Thompson have indicated they would accept a pardon from Biden. However, they declined to say whether they would decline any of them.
California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who served on the committee, said Tuesday: “We have not had any contact with the White House. We have not asked for it.”
“This would set the wrong precedent,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who also served on the committee. “I don’t want to see future presidents leave office with broad types of pardons. ” he said. he said in an interview with CNN earlier this month. Former Republican Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger made the same argument as Schiff, but went a step further and said he didn’t want that debate.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said in a live event hosted by Politico this week that he doesn’t know what the appropriate call would be for Biden.
“Different people feel differently about the whole pardon thing because there are outrageous threats against people just doing their jobs, like the Justice Department prosecutors on January 6th,” Raskin said. Ta. The commission added that there was no need for a pardon “in a just world” because he had done nothing wrong.
“I’m glad we have a smart president and smart people around him who understand that,” Raskin said.
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Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland (left) and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), who chaired the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, are among the lawmakers. The meeting took place in the House of Representatives chamber. Monday, January 6, 2025, in Washington for a joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College votes in the presidential election.
In his final interview as president with a print publication last week, Biden suggested that preemptive pardons for Trump’s political opponents were still under consideration. Biden also noted in the interview that when he met with President-elect Trump at the White House after his election victory in November, he personally urged Trump not to “try to settle scores.”
President Trump called Thompson and other members of the Jan. 6 commission “thugs” and “creepy people.” In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last month, President Trump accused members of the committee of destroying evidence, adding, “Everyone on that committee…should go to jail.”
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“They lied,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “And what did they do? They deleted and destroyed a whole year and a half’s worth of testimony. They did something that I don’t understand. You know what? I think they committed a serious crime.”
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Tuesday, January 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
On Tuesday, the Justice Department released a 137-page report outlining details of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Mr. Trump’s election victory forced prosecutors to drop the case, but Smith said the report showed that Mr. ” is said to have been used.
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On January 6, the committee issued its final report after nearly a year and a half of investigation, determining that Trump played a central role in the events that led to the January 6, 2021, siege of the US Capitol. Finished the work. There is enough evidence for federal prosecutors to convict him. The report included several criminal referrals that the committee ultimately turned over to the Department of Justice.
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