Trump says members of Jan. 6 committee should be jailed
President-elect Donald Trump said members of the now-defunct House select committee tasked with investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol should be in jail.
Trump made the comments in his first post-election network TV interview, with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” It was recorded Friday and aired Sunday.
In the interview with Kristen Welker, Trump also claimed he would not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate President Joe Biden – something he promised to do so last year – unless Pam Bondi, his pick for attorney general, and Kash Patel, his choice to lead the FBI, think there’s a reason to go after the Democratic president.
“I’m not doing that unless I find something that I think is reasonable,” Trump said. “But that’s not going to be my decision, that’s going to be Pam Bondi’s decision and, to a different extent, Kash Patel’s.”
Before he can nominate Patel to lead the FBI, Trump would first need to fire current Director Christopher A. Wray, or Wray would have to resign, as he has three years left in his 10-year term.
The president-elect also said he is “going to be acting very quickly” about pardoning the rioters who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6. “They’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open,” Trump said.
Trump expressed his belief that members of the Jan. 6 committee should be jailed after Welker asked him about reports that Biden is considering preemptive pardons for individuals who have clashed with Trump, including former congresswoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the top Republican on the Jan. 6 panel. Trump then lashed out at Cheney and other members of the panel.
“Everybody on that committee … for what they did, yeah, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said.
The committee – which shuttered when Republicans took back the House in January 2023 – consisted of seven Democrats and two Republicans: Cheney and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois). The panel was chaired by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss.
This is not the first time Trump has threatened members of the committee. In March 2023, he posted on Truth Social that they “should be prosecuted for their lies and, quite frankly, TREASON!”
He has 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 endorsed and campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris this election cycle, further infuriating Trump.
Representatives for Cheney, Kinzinger and Thompson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump also said he would let Bondi “do what she wants to do” regarding an investigation into Jack Smith, the special counsel assigned by Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue two federal prosecutions against Trump. Trump has previously said he would like to fire Smith’s entire team, including career attorneys typically protected from political retribution, according to two individuals close to Trump’s transition.
When Welker asked if Trump wanted to see Smith in prison, he said, “I think he’s very corrupt but I want (Bondi) to do whatever she … wants to do.”
He added, “I’m not going to instruct her to do it.”
Welker also asked Trump if he’s willing to finally concede the 2020 election “for the sake of unifying this country.”
“No, why would I do that?” Trump replied.
He then blamed Biden for any divisions in the country, baselessly accusing him of “weaponizing” the Justice Department after the department launched investigations into his efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election as well as his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House.
Biden “went after his political opponent violently because he knew he couldn’t beat him,” Trump said. “And I think it really was a bad thing.”