by Jamie White
December 15th, 2024 10:30 AM
Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) argued Sunday that Americans did not vote for President-elect Donald Trump to see him “pardon criminals” involved in January 6.
In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Schiff was apoplectic over Trump’s announcement he would be looking into pardoning many of the Jan. 6 political prisoners.
“I am greatly concerned about it. First of all, that he could pardon people that beat police officers, gouged them, bear sprayed them, but also, even beyond that, just the general message it would send, George, that his first pardons are going to go to people who sought through the use of violence at the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power, that played some role in that. Really, that’s who he wants to pardon?” Schiff said.
“The American people, I think, voted for him in part because they wanted something done about crime, not because they wanted to see him pardon criminals attacking the government.”
“They want something done about Fentanyl, they want something done about, in California, smash and grab robberies. This is not what they had in mind, not political revenge, not rewarding people who participated in an insurrection to stop the transfer of power,” Schiff added.
Trump last week in an interview with NBC’s “Meet The Press” said he will be “acting very quickly” to issue pardons for the January 6 prisoners and called for the House Jan. 6 committee members, including Schiff, to be jailed.
“I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases,” Trump said.
Like Schiff, the Justice Department lashed out on Wednesday warning the Jan. 6 prisoners, most of whom have already been convicted, not to accept a pardon from Trump because it would amount to a “confession of guilt.”
Notably, Joe Biden had reportedly been considering “preemptive pardons” for Schiff as well as certain other Democrat officials like Nancy Pelosi and even former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci — individuals who Trump suggested could be investigated when he takes office in January.