Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks and Louie Gohmert among lawmakers who asked for pardons from Trump, Jan 6 hearing told - The Independent

Representatives Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Louie Gohmert and Scott Perry were among the Republican members of Congress who asked President Donald Trump to insulate them from future prosecutions by granting them presidential pardons in the days immediately following the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January last year.

Their names were revealed by the House January 6 select committee hearing on Thursday that focused on Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure the Department of Justice to assist in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

The select committee played videotaped excerpts from depositions of former Trump White House staffers, who described the Republican members’ efforts to obtain clemency after Mr Trump’s scheme led to an attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former special assistant to the president, said Mr Gaetz and Mr Brooks had both advocated for a “blanket pardon” for members involved in a December meeting to plan for events on 6 January.

She said of Marjorie Taylor Greene: “I heard she had asked White House Counsel Office for a pardon.”.

Former deputy White House counsel Eric Herschmann, who confirmed to the panel that Mr Gaetz asked for a pardon, added: “The general tone was, ‘we may get prosecuted because we were defensive of ...

While the identities of most of the GOP members had remained unknown until now, Ms Cheney had previously revealed that pardons were requested by representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and John Eastman, the former Chapman University law professor who pressured vice president Mike Pence to throw out electoral votes from swing states won by Mr Biden at the 6 January 2021 joint session of Congress at which Mr Biden’s victory was to be certified.

After Mr Clark told Mr Rosen he was being elevated to Mr Rosen’s current job, Mr Rosen and other top Justice Department leaders confronted him and Mr Trump in a contentious Oval Office meeting.

“I said: Mr President, I would resign immediately.

He said Mr Trump then turned to Steven Engel, then the head of the DOJ office of legal counsel, and asked if he, too, would resign.

In response, he said Mr Engel told the president: “Absolutely I would, Mr President, you would leave me no choice.”.

Mr Donoghue said he then told the president he would “lose [his] entire department leadership” if he went through with Mr Clark’s plan.

The select committee also presented evidence that Mr Trump’s own White House advisers had found that Mr Clark’s proposed actions, including launching investigations into the baseless conspiracy theories being pushed by Mr Trump and his allies and sending the letter to state legislatures urging them to overturn the election, would be illegal.

Mr Herschmann, the former deputy White House counsel, told select committee investigators Mr Clark’s plan was “asinine” and said his reaction was to tell the aspiring acting attorney general it could expose him to criminal charges.

Mr Clark, a veteran environmental lawyer who now works for a pro-Trump think tank called the Center for Renewing America, was one of numerous ex-Trump administration officials who were subpoenaed to give evidence before the select committee.