Rep. Jamie Raskin declines to share evidence that GOP lawmakers asked Trump for pardons after Capitol riot, says details will come 'in due course'
- Liz Cheney told the Jan. 6 hearing that multiple GOP lawmakers asked for Trump pardons after the Capitol riot.
- Raskin, another Jan. 6 committee member, dodged questions for evidence for the claim on Sunday.
Rep. Jamie Raskin dodged a question for evidence that Republican lawmakers asked then-President Donald Trump for pardons after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, saying the details would emerge later.
CNN anchor Dana Bash asked Raskin on Sunday about Rep. Liz Cheney's remark last Thursday that multiple GOP members of Congress, including Rep. Scott Perry, sought pardons from Trump after the insurrection "for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election." Raskin, a Democrat, and Cheney, a Republican, are both part of the House committee investigating the riot.
"How many of your colleagues in Congress did that, and what evidence do you have? Because you know Congressman Scott Perry is denying it," Bash asked Sunday.
Raskin replied: "Yeah, well, the seeking of pardons is a powerful demonstration of the consciousness of guilt, or at least the consciousness that you may be in trouble, and that's what's so shocking about this. It's not just one."
Bash then interjected, asking: "You have evidence that this happened?"
"It is multiple members of Congress, as the vice-chair said at our opening hearing, and all in due course the details will surface," Raskin said, referring to Cheney.
Bash followed up, "So yes, there's evidence?"
Raskin replied: "Everything we're doing is documented by evidence ... Everything that we are doing is based on facts and this is a bipartisan investigation which is determined to ferret out all of the facts of what happened."
Cheney did not name lawmakers other than Perry in her allegation last Thursday, during the January 6 committee's first public hearing. Perry said in response: "The notion that I ever sought a Presidential pardon for myself or other Members of Congress is an absolute, shameless, and soulless lie."
The committee's second public hearing is set to start at 10 a.m. Monday.