MAGA allies on Tuesday continued threats of jailing members of the House committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Chris Salcedo, who hosts a show on the right-wing Newsmax channel, interviewed Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) on Tuesday, opening his segment by slamming "America last" Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, and Benny Thompson (D-MS).
"Both are saying they should be immune from investigations," Salcedo noted on his program, calling them "co-conspirators" on the "sham" panel, slamming the two for what he called "illegal" and "maligned."
The committee found that President-elect Donald Trump directly influenced the Capitol attack and that his repeated false claims of voter fraud spurred his supporters to do so.
“The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,” their report said. “None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.”
It added: "The insurrection gravely threatened democracy and “put the lives of American lawmakers at risk."
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Salcedo's remarks referenced Rep. Barry Loudermilk's (R-GA) accusations that the committee deleted hundreds of files ahead of Republicans taking control of the chamber in January 2023.
"Thompson and Cheney have refused to turn over the files even though the files belong to our people, not them," said Salcedo. An investigation of that committee, he said, could prove Cheney and Thompson — and "perhaps others‚" engaged in "lawless activity" that could result in the "lawbreakers going to jail!"
He called on Republicans in the chamber to target their colleagues with such a probe, demanding: "Show me, don't tell me."
Salcedo played a clip of Thompson's interview with C-SPAN, in which Thompson insisted the committee committed no wrongdoing and slammed the GOP for "threatening" members of that committee with jail "just because [they] disagree."
When asked if Burchett agreed the committee was just doing its job, or whether he thought they ran afoul of the law, Burchett gave an ominous reply.
"Historically, just doing your job just in recent history has sent people to meet their maker," he said. "I will say playing the devil's advocate, it was an illegitimate committee, they had no jurisdiction whatsoever and they actually imprisoned Steve Bannon for failing to show up."
Burchett called the committee's probe "bogus."
"If they destroyed evidence, if they hid evidence, if they mistreated evidence, then yes, they have violated the law. President Trump is correct and they should go to jail. If that is the case."
He then called on his party to have the "guts" to follow through next year with such action after feeding their constituents "red meat." But Burchett wasn't confident in the GOP.
"They're going to come right back here and sell us down the river," he said. "That's why we're $36 trillion in debt. That's why no one fears us right now. Because the Republican Party, we're all puffed up, we're doing a dagum victory lap. We ought to be up here figuring out what we're going to do to fix the problem."
In a post to X sharing his interview with his followers, Burchett repeated his threat.
"If members of the J6 committee destroyed or hid evidence, they should go to jail," he wrote. "Steve Bannon did four months in prison for not showing up to their clown show. We'll see in January if this bunch is ready to hold people accountable."
Watch the clip below or at this link.
