Americans need to know who sought pardons from former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, said Sunday.
Several lawmakers requested pardons from Trump in the aftermath of the attack, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, said Thursday during the first televised hearing of the special House committee probing the siege.
Cheney singled out Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pennsylvania, but added “multiple other Republican congressmen” sought presidential pardons for their roles in the violent effort to block certification of the 2020 election results by Congress.
“When you don’t know which of your colleagues were part of a potential conspiracy, then we need to find out,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I believe that every member of Congress should be able to answer that question.”
The New York Democrat recently tweeted at GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia asking if they had sought legal cover from the 45th president.
Perry has denied seeking a pardon. He is one of five Republican lawmakers who have been subpoenaed by the House panel to give evidence and refused to cooperate.
“We’ll see what the evidence that the committee lays out will be,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I believe that the committee would never make an allegation so serious without very substantial evidence to present to the American public.”
The fiery progressive also said she would not commit to supporting President Joe Biden if he runs for reelection in 2024.
“I think if the president has a vision, then that’s something certainly we’re all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes,” she said. “We should endorse when we get to it.
“I believe that the president’s been doing a very good job so far, and, you know, should he run again, I think that I, you know, I think … we’ll take a look at it,” she said.
Story by Shant Shahrigian, New York Daily News.
