Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chair of the House Select Committee investigating January 6, said Monday on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” that the committee will investigate if Republican members of Congress helped Capitol rioters.
Thompson said, “We have to see if there were other members of Congress that perhaps contributed to what went on. There have been allegations that some members of Congress gave tours of the Capitol to people who have been in charge of the insurrection. We also have to get with the Department of Justice. We’re not interested in conflicting with the prosecution. But we think there is significant evidence that they might have been able to ascertain in their investigation that could be germane to our committee so that we’ll have the best relationship that we can, but we’re not interested in getting into the prosecutorial aspect of what is going on with the Capital.”
Guest anchor Kasie Hunt asked, “If you find that members of Congress did, in fact, aid members of this mob, this violent mob, or ahead of time, what is the remedy for that? What should happen to those members of Congress?”
Thompson said, “There is several remedies potentially. You can refer that information to the Department of Justice. You can refer to our Ethics Committee. I would hope that even though we have come to this institution, the United States House of Representatives, with different opinions, we should never foster the notion that just because I didn’t get my way in an election, it is time that we destroy the institution. So I’ll goal with this committee is to preserve our democratic government as we see it now and not let anything interfere with it, not let anything try to misinform the public that somehow because their candidate lost that they can take the election. We’re better than that, and our select committee has one of the objectives to prove that democracy works in America.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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