House Democrat: Trump ‘absolutely’ tampering with Jan. 6 witnesses

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), who sits on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, on Wednesday said that former President Trump is “absolutely” tampering with witnesses by offering possible pardons to defendants.

CNN’s Brianna Keilar asked Aguilar on “New Day” if Trump was tampering with witnesses by offering to pardon defendants involved in the Jan. 6 riots.

“Absolutely,” the California Democrat replied. “And I think the question is more for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, you know, where are they? Do they support this? When is enough, enough? When a mob is chanting ‘hang Mike Pence,’ it wasn’t enough. When the former president asked Brad Raffensperger to find him 11,000 votes, it wasn’t enough.”

“Now he’s, you know, dangling pardons, if he gets back in office, for individuals; will that be enough? Or will there be more collective amnesia? You know, I just don’t know where the floor is these days on that side of the aisle,” he added.

Hundreds of people have been charged or are facing charges in connection to the storming of the Capitol that happened on Jan. 6, 2021, in which supporters of the former president tried to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results. 

During a rally last weekend in Texas, Trump said that if he ran again for president and won, he would treat those who participated in the Capitol riot “fairly” and would pardon them if need be. 

Robert Jenkins, who represents several clients associated with the Jan. 6 riot, told CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday that he did not believe Trump’s offering to pardon defendants rose to the severity of witness tampering but said, “he is certainly putting his fingers on [the] scales.”

Several top Republicans have already vocally disagreed with Trump’s comments to pardon Jan. 6 defendants. During an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called the move “inappropriate.”

“No, I don’t want to send any signal that it was OK to defile the Capitol,” Graham said when asked if he agreed with Trump’s move.

“I think it’s inappropriate. … I don’t want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future,” he added.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also told reporters on Tuesday that he disagreed with such a move.

“I would not be in favor of shortening any of the sentences for any of the people who pleaded guilty to crimes,” the Senate GOP leader said.

“The election of 2020 was decided Dec. 14 of 2020 when the Electoral College certified the winner of the election. What we saw here on January the 6th was an effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, which has never happened before in our country,” McConnell added.

Trump slammed Graham’s comments during an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday night, calling one of his top Senate allies a “RINO,” an acronym that stands for “Republican In Name Only.”

“Well, Lindsey Graham’s wrong. I mean, Lindsey’s a nice guy, but he’s a RINO. Lindsey’s wrong,” Trump said. 

Graham defended his comments in a statement on Wednesday, saying, “All Americans are entitled to have a speedy trial and their day in court, but those who actively engage in violence for whatever political cause must be held accountable and not be forgiven.”

The Hill has reached out to a spokesperson for Trump for comment.