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Dennis Donovan

(27,441 posts)
Wed Dec 11, 2024, 03:11 PM Dec 11

The Hill: Blumenthal 'strongly opposes' Biden pardons for Jan. 6 panel members

The Hill - Blumenthal ‘strongly opposes’ Biden pardons for Jan. 6 panel members

by Juliann Ventura - 12/11/24 3:03 PM ET



Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) poured cold water on the idea of President Biden preemptively pardoning lawmakers who served on the House panel tasked with investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“I strongly oppose preemptive pardons. First of all, it’s in some ways going to be perceived as an implicit acknowledgment of guilt,” Blumenthal told CNN’s Jim Acosta Wednesday, citing his own credibility as a federal prosecutor and state attorney general for roughly two decades.

“And people should know that walking into a courtroom and making charges is far from proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” he continued in the interview, highlighted by Mediaite. “There is no evidence of wrongdoing against those members of the January 6th committees who brought those impeachment articles or who prosecuted them.”

The final report released by the committee in 2022 included several legislative recommendations, with one that seeks to bar Trump from holding office in the future under the 14th Amendment. The panel also argued that the former president should not be allowed to serve in government because the amendment’s insurrection clause prohibits people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding such posts.

Blumenthal’s opposition comes as President-elect Trump expressed openness to having lawmakers on the Jan. 6 special committee imprisoned during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.

/snip
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harumph

(2,400 posts)
6. They'll be clutching their pearls all the way.
Wed Dec 11, 2024, 03:27 PM
Dec 11

and wailing "Buh Buht...we're still a country of lawz!!!"

harumph

(2,400 posts)
16. A pardon would be like a sandbags in a flood.
Wed Dec 11, 2024, 06:21 PM
Dec 11

Maybe futile. You don't know if it's going to hold - but better to try it than not.

bucolic_frolic

(47,600 posts)
3. Agree. Do we have to adjust the whole legal system to Trump's world view?
Wed Dec 11, 2024, 03:21 PM
Dec 11

It's not like the J6 committee is without virtually airtight defenses. They'll have great legal representation in the event.

Intractable

(591 posts)
4. If the Jan 6 panel members are put on trial, it may provide chance to again put Trump's actions and inactions of the day
Wed Dec 11, 2024, 03:22 PM
Dec 11

in front of the public.

I think the whole thing is going to be messy, with great potential for blow-back onto the Republicans.

harumph

(2,400 posts)
8. ...and you think that the fact that they "broke no laws" will keep them safe?
Wed Dec 11, 2024, 03:33 PM
Dec 11

righhhht. The new gang in town aren't about laws. They're about working up the mob and seeing what they can get away with.
I tire of the old "Guardrails will hold..." blather. They most certainly haven't and they most certainly won't.

JohnSJ

(96,812 posts)
9. Can you tell me what they will charge them with? and even if we go out on a limb with your premise that they won't have
Wed Dec 11, 2024, 03:37 PM
Dec 11

to abide by laws, then a pardon wouldn't mean a damn thing anyway.

IA8IT

(5,926 posts)
13. Let's all join hands and be Ned Stark while they cut our heads off. Putin/tRump GOP have no honor.
Wed Dec 11, 2024, 04:01 PM
Dec 11
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