Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) says he’s not intimidated by Donald Trump’s threats to jail him as a member of the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
In fact, Kinzinger said Thursday in a defiant interview that the incoming president is “the person that intimidates me the least of anybody in this country.” He then seized the opportunity to deliver a direct message to Trump.
“You know, fine, whatever, if you got to make up charges I was in the legislative branch, we were investigating – as per the request from Congress – to do that,” Kinzinger told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about his work on the Jan. 6 committee. “We obviously came up with answers that embarrassed Trump – he was embarrassed by it.”
He said the investigation revealed in stark detail for the American public that Trump “was completely complicit for 187 minutes while violence happened.” It also exposed Trump's indifference to Mike Pence as his own vice president was being threatened with violence himself, Kinzinger added.
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“And that was embarrassing for the president,” Kinzinger told Collins. “You know, sorry to embarrass you, Donald, but that's what we were tasked with, was the truth. And history books will record this as the truth. You want to threaten to throw us in jail for that? It just shows how small of a person you really are. I’m not intimidated,” he said.
Kinzinger made the comments Thursday during a discussion revolving around reports that Trump would pardon Jan. 6 rioters as one of his first acts as president. CNN reported the president-elect would issue the pardons "within nine minutes of taking office."
“It’s wrong,” Kinzinger said. “Obviously this is basically sending a message…that, look, ‘if you commit violence on my behalf, I will pardon you.' That's pretty chilling, that's pretty eerie.”
Collins noted the “striking split screen” of Trump promising to pardon insurrectionists while saying members of the Jan. 6 committee belong in jail.
“All he's obsessed with is retribution,” Kinzinger said. He added: “History, which usually gets it right, will look back and say it was a very, very shameful thing that he's planning to do.”
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