'They're exposed': Former GOP lawmaker slams colleagues who begged for Trump pardons

Reacting to a revelation from Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) that several Republican Party lawmakers reportedly went hat in hand to Donald Trump and asked for pardons related to attempts to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) predicted they could be in big trouble.

In the midst of the first publicly televised Jan. 6 House committee hearing on the Capitol insurrection, the Wyoming Republican suggested that Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) was one of those lawmakers, telling the national TV audience, "Rep. Scott Perry … has refused to testify here. As you will see, Representative Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after Jan. 6 to seek a presidential pardon. Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.”

Asked about the accusation by CNN host Jim Sciutto, the former Republican lawmaker went off on a rant about some of his former associates.

"Another significant revelation from the Vice-Chair Liz Cheney yesterday is that several GOP lawmakers sought pardons from then-president Trump after January 6th, presuming, it seems, they had criminal exposure here," host Sciutto asked as CNN identified the four lawmakers as Perry along with Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Mo Brooks of Alabama. "What is your reaction? You're a former sitting Republican member of Congress, to hear that some of your former colleagues were looking for a pardon, felt they needed a pardon."

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"It is clear to me they have a guilty mind, they think they may have done things that were illegal and potentially criminal and that's why they sought a preemptive pardon. That's simply astounding to me, one of the member's district was adjacent to mine, Scott Perry, and we all know he had made many outreaches to Jeffrey Clark at the DOJ and it is clear to me, again, that I just can't fathom that a member of Congress would ever seek a pardon, just -- it is really quite a stunning action."

"It really speaks to the idea of criminality that -- those are the only people who seek pardons and the fact that they -- that the actions that they took before or during the events of that day, they know that they -- they did something wrong," he continued. "So wrong that they sought a pardon. I can't imagine any -- most of my colleagues would ever have thought for a second to seek a pardon for anything. So it is clear to me that they know they're on the wrong side of this, and that's why they're trying not to participate in these hearings because they're exposed."

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