POLITICS NEWS – Congress members Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney thank Biden for last-minute pardon

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

Outgoing President Joe Biden pardoned U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, the former chairman of the January 6th committee, in a last-minute move ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration. The pardon was reportedly issued to protect Thompson and others involved in investigating the Capitol riots from potential retaliation by Trump’s administration.

Thompson and former committee vice chair Liz Cheney released a joint statement expressing gratitude to Biden for his actions. Trump has warned that individuals who opposed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for the 2020 Capitol riots may face consequences under his leadership.

The statement issued by Bennie Thomas and Liz Cheney read the following:

Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), former Chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and Liz Cheney, former Vice Chair of the of the Committee, released the following statement on the behalf of the Members of the Committee:

“On behalf of the Members of the Select Committee on the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, we express our gratitude to President Biden for recognizing that we and our families have been continuously targeted not only with harassment, lies and threats of criminal violence, but also with specific threats of criminal prosecution and imprisonment by members of the incoming administration, simply for doing our jobs and upholding our oaths of office.

We have been pardoned today not for breaking the law but for upholding it.

“These are indeed ‘extraordinary circumstances’ when public servants are pardoned to prevent false prosecution by the government for having worked faithfully as Members of Congress to expose the facts of a months-long criminal effort to override the will of the voters after the 2020 elections, including by inciting a violent insurrection to thwart the peaceful transfer of power. Such a prosecution would be ordered and conducted by persons who led this unprecedented attack on our constitutional system. We are not deterred, we have never been deterred, and we will never be deterred by threats of criminal violence or criminal prosecution, and we are encouraged greatly for the future of the rule of law by the existence of the Constitution’s sweeping Speech and Debate Clause as well as this general pardon by President Biden of our Committee and its excellent staff.

“We pray that our institutions will prevail over these coming four years, but their survival will undoubtedly require courage by the citizenry, those in elected office and the press. The truth and the Constitution must prevail.”