Adam Kinzinger attacks Republicans begging for pardons while not upholding their oath to the Constitution
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) played a leading role in the fifth public hearing for the House Select Committee on Thursday. Among the things that Kinzinger revealed was that a number of Republican members of Congress asked for preemptive pardons.
He explained that the only reason he knows that someone would ask for a pardon is if they committed a crime.
Speaking to CNN, Kinzinger said that he's not going to make a decision on what should happen to his colleagues named, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX).
"My job is to put the evidence out there," Kinzinger told Jake Tapper. "And as I said at the end of that, I only know of one reason to seek a pardon -- because you are worried that you are guilty. That you committed a crime. This is something they have to answer to their constituents. You know, I can't enforce the rules of the House or do certain things unilaterally. But I — this is the biggest point is, listen, America: do you really want your possible members of Congress out there trying to bend or break the law so that they can maintain political power? That is like anathema to everything we learned in history class whether in third grade or a senior and that has got to stop."
Tapper pointed out the recent raid of Jeffrey Clark that happened just before the hearing on Thursday. The hearing focused on how corrupt and incapable Clark was at the Justice Department.
"Just a handful of Jeffrey Clark's replacing any of those individuals and all these individuals I am talking about Trump loyalist conservative Republicans, and we very well could have lost democracy in the United States," said Tapper.
"Yeah. Do you know who else knows that? Not just you. Not just me but the Steve Bannons of the world that actually planning this," Kinzinger said. "They think, under the radar, they can put in loyalists and frankly they can. I mean, that is the point. Every one of these hearings we have done, we have shown a layer of stuff that could go wrong. And there is really no magic police force that if people don't follow through on their oath is going to come in and enforce that. It is really just us having to hold true to what we believe. And, you know, it's what happens in Trump's second term, in theory, or a Trump accolade in his term in the presidency. Now, he can interview anybody for DOJ or any position and say is your loyalty to me or is it to the Constitution? And eventually, trust me, you are gonna find people that will say I will pledge my loyalty to you over the Constitution."
"I mean, you see it probably saves someone's life if you destroy a car but we are going to plunge off a cliff," Kinzinger explained. "We are really there and this is the thing. it is great to tell the story but the biggest point is, ladies and gentlemen, you have to vote not based on every little issue that bothers you but based on who is going to uphold their oath to the Constitution. Because that's the only thing that matters."
See the video below or at this link.
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