Jan 6 Committee: Republicans requested pardons after storming Capitol
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Evidence implicating a guilty conscience foreshadows severe legal and political moments for Trump and his accomplices.
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US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell walks to his office in the US Capitol in Washington on October 7, 2021. (Reuters)
Donald Trump's top Republican allies in Congress sought pardons after the January 6 insurrection, according to the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack at its inaugural hearing. This represents a major disclosure that backs claims that the event is the equivalent of a coup and is likely to cause serious ripples.
The asking for pardons is a reflection of the consciousness of guilt, which is a significant revelation (out of three) that could foreshadow severe legal and political moments for Trump and his accomplices.
The vice-chair of the panel, Liz Cheney, named only one congressman who sought a pardon from the White House for his efforts to overturn the election results in 2020: Scott Perry. The house committee did not elaborate on other Republicans requesting pardons, or for which crimes they were seeking pardons. However, it seemed as though the request was based on illegal conduct.
This also raises the implication that Trump's claims that the elections were a fraud were baseless: Why would they need pardons if they really were only raising legitimate questions about the election?
“It’s hard to find a more explicit statement of consciousness of guilt than looking for a pardon for actions you’ve just taken, assisting in a plan to overthrow the results of a presidential election,” Jamie Raskin, a member of the select committee, told reporters.
The request for pardons was during the opening hour of the hearing where it would be made salient that Trump lost the elections.
The revelations, admitted by Trump's top aides, are important because they could put federal prosecutors a step closer to charging Trump with obstructing an official proceeding or even defrauding the US on election fraud claims, which he himself knew were not true.
Read more: Congress Jan. 6 hearings will be choreographed to be "TV spectacular"
Trump arranged 7-part plan to overturn 2020 election: Jan. 6 committee
On Friday, the US House committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6 said it will present evidence revealing how former President Donald Trump purportedly coordinated a seven-part plan to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election, according to the Committee's Vice Chair Liz Cheney.
During the first public hearing on the findings of its probe last Thursday night, Cheney added that "over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power in our hearings. You will see evidence of each element of this plan."
The hearing, according to Cheney, will also show how Trump allegedly planned to replace then-Attorney General Bill Barr so that the US Justice Department could spread his false stolen election claims.
Cheney noted that the committee's investigation is still ongoing, so the preliminary findings that will be made public during the upcoming hearings will not be the entire set of information that will be disclosed.
The seven-part series of hearings will feature testimony from more than a half-dozen former Trump administration officials who were in the West Wing of the White House on January 6, 2021, both live and on video.
The Vice-Chair went on to say that the public will also hear testimony indicating that Trump did not want to issue a statement calling off the riot or asking his supporters to leave, stressing that the hearings will reveal that Trump was yelling and getting angry at advisors who told him he needed to do something to defuse the Capitol riot and that he was aware rioters wanted to hang Mike Pence, then-Vice President.
Cheney stressed that Trump reportedly stated that perhaps his supporters were correct and that Pence deserved it, noting that witnesses at these hearings will explain how Pence and his staff repeatedly informed Trump that what he was pressuring the vice president to do was illegal, as well as his relentless effort to press Pence both privately and publicly.
