U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert asked Trump for a pardon after insurrection

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U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, was among the many members of Congress who asked former President Donald Trump for a pardon after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, in accordance with a testimony proven at a listening to Thursday by the House committee investigating the assault.

Cassidy Hutchinson, the previous aide to then-White House chief of workers Mark Meadows, advised the committee that Gohmert asked for the pardon. The different Republicans who asked for pardons had been Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.

“The only reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you’ve committed a crime,” stated Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, who’s one in every of two Republicans on the House committee.

Gohmert was talked about a number of instances throughout Thursday’s listening to, which centered on the coordinated effort by Trump and his allies to persuade the Justice Department to research voter fraud and assist overturn election outcomes.

His chief of workers was copied on an e mail that included allies of Trump saying Vice President Mike Pence “would benefit greatly from a briefing” by John Eastman, the architect of the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election outcomes.

Ken Blackwell, a former secretary of state of Ohio, wrote the e-mail on Dec. 28, 2020. It additionally referenced Ken Klukowski, a former White House lawyer who joined the Justice Department in December 2020.

The revelations are the strongest connections but established by the committee between a Texas lawmaker and the efforts to undermine Biden’s presidency.

The committee additionally confirmed a video of Gohmert concentrating on Justice Department officers for not investigating the unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud.

“There’s widespread evidence of fraud because people haven’t done their jobs,” Gohmert stated within the clip shot on Dec. 3, 2020. “[John] Durham and [William] Barr will deserve a big notation in history when it’s written of the rise and fall of the United States if they don’t clean up this mess, clean up the fraud. Do your jobs and save this little experiment in self-government.”

Barr, Trump’s former legal professional basic, has stated a number of instances that there was no proof of widespread voter fraud, regardless of Trump’s insistence on the contrary.

Gohmert was early to talk out towards the outcomes of the 2020 election.

He joined a transient asking the U.S. Supreme Court to discard the votes in 4 swing states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that helped hand Biden the presidency. He additionally sued Pence days earlier than Jan. 6, 2021, arguing Pence ought to assert unilateral management over the certification of the election outcomes.

Days earlier than the Jan. 6 assault, the U.S. Capitol Police flagged feedback by Gohmert as probably inciting violence. Speaking on the conservative news community Newsmax, Gohmert stated that letting President Joe Biden’s electoral win stand would imply “the end of our republic, the end of the experiment in self-government.”

Gohmert additionally stated on air, “The ruling would be that you got to go to the streets and be as violent as Antifa and [Black Lives Matter].” He later stated he was not advocating for violence.

During the insurrection, Gohmert urged folks to not be violent. Hours later, Gohmert was among the many members of Congress to vote towards the certification of the election ends in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Gohmert didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

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