Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Sunday described President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to jail House committee members on Jan. 6 as “an outrageous statement” and said President Joe Biden would issue a preemptive pardon for committee members should consider.
“This is what authoritarianism is all about. This is what dictatorship is all about,” Sanders added.
Asked whether Biden should consider preemptive pardons for committee members, including seven House Democrats and two House Republicans — then-Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. – Sanders told NBC News’ “Meet the Press”: “Well, I think he might want to consider that very seriously.”
His comments come just over a week after Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that members of the commission tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack should “go to jail.”
He also said he would seek to pardon his supporters convicted for their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, saying his supporters “have been there for years and are in a filthy, disgusting place.” that shouldn’t even be open.”
More than 1,500 defendants have been charged in connection with their actions on January 6, 2021, and more than 1,200 have been convicted or found guilty.
A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sanders’ comments.
However, not all Republicans agree with Trump’s plan.
During an interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker earlier Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a key Trump ally, said flatly “No” when asked if he agrees that committee members from January 6 go to jail.
In the days following Trump’s comments, committee members such as Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., have blasted the president-elect.
Thompson told reporters on Capitol Hill that the committee members did nothing “that was against the law.”
“I’m comfortable with the fact that as members of Congress we did our job, and as long as we do our job, there are certain guarantees that we have, and I look forward to enforcing those guarantees,” said he.
Schiff said Trump’s comments were “not the kind of talk we should hear from a president in a democracy.”
In a statement, Cheney said: “Donald Trump’s suggestion that he imprison members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions is a continuation of his attack on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
