Trump wants anyone involved with the House January 6 investigation committee in jail ASAP.
In an interview aired Sunday on Meet the Press—Trump’s first since his election night win—the president-elect laid out the framework for his draconian vision, starting with his revenge list.
“I think those people committed a major crime, and [Liz] Cheney was behind it,” he said of the House select committee tasked with investigating January 6. “And so was Benny Thompson. Everybody on that committee.… For what they did, yeah, honestly, they should go to jail.”
The committee, run by the aforementioned Cheney and Thompson, as well as six other Democrats and another Republican, was shut down when Republicans won the House back in 2023.
The committee accurately deduced that Trump did indeed incite acts of violence during his attempt to hold onto the office after his 2020 defeat, which he refuses to acknowledge to this day. He also accused the committee of deleting and destroying evidence regarding January 6, a claim with no evidence.
Cheney responded to Trump’s threat in a statement to The Washington Post. “Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power. He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building, and halted the official counting of electoral votes,” she said. “Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”
Former Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the committee, also fired back at the president-elect. “If Donald wants to pursue this vindictive fantasy, I say bring it on,” he stated on his Substack. “I’m not intimidated by a man whose actions on January 6th showed a cowardly disregard for democracy and the rule of law.”
In the Meet the Press interview, Trump went on to express distaste for special counsel Jack Smith, who was heading the investigation into January 6, saying that he would let attorney general nominee Pam Bondi “do what she wants to do” to Smith.
Trump used the entire election cycle to fill out his “prosecute and imprison” list, and is so deep in his lies about January 6 that he’s convinced himself of his own victimhood. It’s us who are the problem, not him. When asked if he would finally concede the 2020 election now that the dust has settled and he’s won again, Trump replied, “No, why would I do that?”
Various outlets have reported that President Biden has put preemptive pardons on the table for anyone who might be on one of Trump’s lists.
