Donald Trump is calling for the criminal prosecution of members of the congressional Jan. 6 investigative committee, all of whom are his political opponents. The former president expressed his opinion on Truth Social, his social media platform, on Thursday, June 6.
“INDICT THE UNSELECT J6 COMMITTEE FOR ILLEGALLY DELETING AND DESTROYING ALL OF THEIR ‘FINDINGS!’” the former president wrote.
Committee members included former Republican Reps. Liz Cheney, Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, Ill., and Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Calif., Jamie Raskin, Md., Bennie Thompson, Miss., and others.
Trump made the post after a judge sentenced his former chief strategist Steve Bannon to four months in prison for defying a subpoena from the committee. Bannon remained defiant, however, after a judge handed him the sentence Thursday and ordered Bannon to surrender by July 1.
”There is not a prison built or jail built that will ever shut me up,” Bannon said as he walked out of the courthouse. “All victory to MAGA. We’re going to win this. We’re going to win at the Supreme Court and more importantly, we’re going to win on November 5th in an amazing landslide.”
“It is a Total and Complete American Tragedy that the Crooked Joe Biden Department of Injustice is so desperate to jail Steve Bannon, and every other Republican, for that matter, for not SUBMITTING to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs,” Trump added in his Truth Social post.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., spearheaded a Republican-led investigation into what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, and wrote in his report the original select committee did not preserve some of the evidence.
Committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., also responded to Trump’s calls for their indictment and denied deleting evidence.
“The ex-president threatening to arrest people shows he does not understand, or does not care, about our system of justice,” Lofgren said on CNN.
The committee concluded its investigation with an 845-page report and a criminal referral against Trump to the Justice Department. Members suggested Trump be indicted on charges very similar to those brought forward by special counsel Jack Smith.
