'Honestly, they should go to jail,' Trump calls out Bennie Thompson, other congressmen. Why?
Thompson stands by work of Jan. 6 committee
Mississippi's only Democrat in Congress is already receiving political jabs from President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office in 2025 as the nation's 47th president and was the subject of an investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, capitol riot and insurrection.
On Friday, Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview that aired nationwide on Sunday that he thinks the members of the Jan. 6 investigative committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol riot and who was behind it should be imprisoned for their work.
“Honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said of the congress members who investigated the capitol riots. "… Cheney was behind it … so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee."
U.S. Rep. Thompson, D-Miss.-District 2, who chaired the Jan. 6 Committee, said in a response to WAPT, that he stands by the committee's work. His office did not immediately respond to questions from the Clarion Ledger.
"Unfortunately, I was just doing my job as the chairman of the Jan. 6 Committee," Thompson said. "He didn't say we did anything that was wrong or illegal, he just said we need to be in jail… A majority of the eyewitnesses were people who worked in the previous Trump administration, so these are people who were, for the most part, Republicans who just didn't like what they saw. They were man and woman enough to speak it and because of that, now he wants to threaten people who exposed him."
When asked if Trump would use the weight of his office to investigate the committee's members, Trump said he would not.
“I have the absolute right," Trump said. "I’m the chief law enforcement officer, you do know that. I’m the president. But I’m not interested in that."
On Jan. 6., 2021, hundreds of right-wing participants of a rally held by Trump stormed and occupied the U.S. Capitol building while Congress was attempting to confirm the 2020 presidential election of Joe Biden, a Democrat. Five people died during and after the riot, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.
Thompson and Trump have not exactly been political allies over the years.
Other than the investigative committee, which has helped uncover the story of the Capitol riots, Thompson filed legislation earlier this year that would have taken away an elected official's Secret Service detail upon sentencing and incarceration for felony convictions, according to U.S. House records.
Also, in July when Trump was shot at and winged by a would-be assassin, one of Thompson's staffers suggested the assailant practice his aim and try again. The former employee no longer works for Thompson, he confirmed days after the incident.
Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.