Trump says lawmakers who investigated Jan 6 riots should be jailed after he vows to pardon rioters

After pledging to pardon Jan. 6 rioters on his first day in office, President-elect Donald Trump said that he would like to see those who investigated the insurgency behind bars. Lawmakers who led an inquiry into the 2021 Capitol Hill riots were also under Trump’s radar. The proclamation from the Republican leader came in his first post-election interview with NBC News.

The provocative interview also covered the president’s thoughts on tariff plans and the upcoming cabinet hand-picked by him. Trump also promoted his aggressive immigration agenda, doubling down on his promise to launch a mass deportation program for undocumented immigrants, including their family members who are still living in the country.

In the 45-minute-long NBC interview aired on Sunday, Trump insisted that members of the now-defunct House select committee tasked with investigating the deadly January 6 insurrection should be in jail. “Everybody on that committee … for what they did, yeah, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said, including former congresswoman Liz Cheney, who was the top Republican to be part of the Jan. 6 panel.

What did the committee find?

After a brief investigation, the committee concluded that Trump actively “inspired” his supporters to commit violence in his name. The committee also accused the former president of attempting to stay in office despite losing the 2020 US elections against outgoing President Joe Biden. The committee consisted of seven Democrats and two Republicans: Cheney and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois). The panel was chaired by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Mississippi).

Trump’s latest comments marked an escalation of his usual threats to the members of the committee. In March 2023, Trump posted that the committee members “should be prosecuted for their lies,” accusing them of “treason.” However, he has largely refrained from calling for their imprisonment. He has only repeatedly expressed interest in jailing Cheney — a longtime Republican who lost her seat in Congress after refusing to excuse Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Cheney faced more wrath from Trump after she endorsed and campaigned with his competitor Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential race. Hence, Trump’s recent assertion to send the lawmakers to jail concerned many. The Jan 6 committee was shuttered when Republicans took back the House in January 2023.

Punishing the lawmakers, pardoning the rioters

In the same interview, the business mogul-turned-politician said that he is looking to pardon some of his supporters who were involved in the Capitol riots. He claimed that those who have been incarcerated are “living in hell.” “I’m going to be acting very quickly. The first day,” Trump said, saying later about their imprisonment, NBC News reported.

“They’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open,” he added. The president-elect maintained that there may be “some exception” to his pardons “if somebody was radical, crazy,” and pointed to some debunked claims that anti-Trump elements and law enforcement operatives infiltrated the crowd.

At least 1,573 defendants have been charged, and more than 1,251 have been convicted or pleaded guilty in the attack. Out of those, at least 645 defendants have been sentenced to incarceration ranging from a few days to 22 years in federal lockup. About 250 people were in custody, and most of them were serving sentences after having been convicted. A handful are being held in pretrial custody at the order of a federal judge.