Schiff: GOP lawmakers seeking pardons was compelling ‘consciousness of guilt’

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on Sunday that evidence showing several GOP lawmakers sought pardons related to their roles in overturning the election was the most compelling “consciousness of guilt” related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Schiff was asked about remarks from Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a fellow member of the House panel investigating Jan. 6, who said multiple House GOP lawmakers requested pardons from the Trump administration. 

“We will show the evidence that we have that members of Congress were seeking pardons. To me, I think that is some of the most compelling evidence of a consciousness of guilt,” Schiff told moderator Martha Raddatz.

“Why would members do that if they felt that their involvement in this plot to overturn the election was somehow appropriate?” he asked. “So we’ll present the evidence that we have, as the vice chair outlined, along with the evidence of other actions that were taken by members of the Congress.” 

“But, again, I don’t want to get too far ahead of the committee. And we’ll be presenting that in the days and weeks to come,” Schiff added. 

Schiff’s remarks come in the aftermath of the House select committee’s first June public hearing on Thursday night, which drew nearly 20 million viewers. The second hearing is scheduled for Monday morning. 

Schiff also said on Sunday that the committee plans to show proof of former President Trump not condemning chants by rioters to “hang Mike Pence” and that Trump, according to lawmakers, said that perhaps Pence “deserved” it because he would not contest the 2020 election results.

“We will, I think, be demonstrating the proof behind that comment. Everything that the chair and vice chair said during our hearing was, you know, well-documented and analyzed and dotted every ‘i’ and crossed every ‘t’ in vetting what our committee would say. So we’ll be presenting the evidence of that,” Schiff said. 

“And, you know, that’s perfectly tragically consistent with Donald Trump’s character, which is, he doesn’t care about anything but himself and so people who are attacking the Capitol on his behalf, well, you know, they were for him and that’s all that seemed to matter to Donald Trump,” Schiff concluded.