Former Jan. 6 committee chair Bennie Thompson says he'd accept White House pardon

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi says if President Biden offered him a preemptive pardon for his role in leading the investigation into then-President Donald Trump's role in the 2021 Capitol riot, he'd accept it. 

Thompson, who was the chair of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6, embraced the idea of a pardon in an interview with CBS News, saying Tuesday, "I'm from a part of the country where speaking your opinion used to cost you your life."

"When I hear someone about to be sworn into the presidency of the United States say he wants to lock you up for doing your job, I believe it," he said of Trump, now the president-elect.

"And so, if for Bennie Thompson, that is something that's offered to me, I will accept it," the Democrat added, "because there are a lot of people who take this person at his word, and I don't want him to weaponize (the) government against people for doing their job."

President Biden has said he's continuing to weigh possible blanket preemptive pardons for prominent critics and political enemies of Trump, a move that could shield them from prosecution by the incoming administration. The president has not said who might receive such a pardon.

The president-elect has openly threatened members of the now-defunct House committee.

In an interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press" last month, the incoming president accused members of the panel of destroying evidence and committing "a major crime" during their investigation. He said that "everybody" who served on the committee "should go to jail."

Asked Tuesday about Trump's claim that the committee had destroyed evidence, Thompson noted that House Republicans have been conducting their own investigation of the select committee's work for two years. "They've not come up with anything," Thompson said.

But Thompson appears to be the only member of the select committee who would welcome a pardon ahead of Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20. Several of the panel's members have rejected the idea, arguing they don't need a pardon because they committed no wrongdoing in the course of their work.

Rep. Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat, told reporters on Tuesday, "I stand by the work that we did. We didn't do anything wrong. I don't think a pardon is necessary."

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said he didn't know what the right answer was when asked at a Politico Live event about the possibility Mr. Biden could pardon members of the select committee. He argued that "in any just world," they wouldn't need a pardon because they hadn't committed any crimes.

He also noted that the Constitution's "speech and debate" clause protects members against criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits related to their legislative work.

Some of the panel's other former members have discouraged pardons.

Sen. Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, told CBS News in December that he did not think the idea of a blanket pardon "of any kind" was a good idea, and would recommend against it.

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans who served on the panel, said on CNN this month that he did not want a pardon. 

"I understand the theory behind it because Donald Trump has clearly said he's going to go after everybody," he said. "...But the second you take a pardon, it looks like you're guilty of something. I'm guilty of nothing besides bringing the truth to the American people and in the process, embarrassing Donald Trump."

Mr. Biden awarded Thompson and the select committee's vice chair, former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, a Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian award, at a ceremony at the White House this month.