Washington—— President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that members of Congress investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol should be jailed.
“Honestly, they should be in jail,” Trump said of the elected officials leading the investigation in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
One of the investigators, former Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), is scheduled to be sworn in as California’s junior U.S. senator on Monday. Schiff served on the Jan. 6 committee and led Trump’s first impeachment trial.
Trump said on Sunday he would not direct his administration to pursue such prosecutions and would leave the decision to his pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi.
He also said he would “probably” pardon supporters convicted in the riots.
President Biden is considering whether to issue preemptive pardons to protect targets of potential retaliatory prosecutions, including Schiff.
“Prosecute those who tell the truth. Pardon perpetrators of political violence. That’s not what democracies do. That’s what dictators do,” Schiff wrote in a Sunday post on X, accompanied by excerpts from the interview. things to do.
Schiff won the election to replace outgoing Sen. Laphonza Butler, who was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill in temporarily after Feinstein’s death in September 2023. The seat of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.
He gained national prominence during Trump’s first term, leading numerous investigations into Trump and his allies.
Schiff announced his official resignation from the House of Representatives in a letter to Newsom on Sunday, writing that he had been honored to represent the people of California’s 30th Congressional District for the past 24 years.
“I look forward to representing all Californians and doing my best to ensure our state continues to provide opportunity, creativity, innovation and a great quality of life for generations to come,” he wrote.
Times staff writer Kevin Rector and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
