JUST IN: J6 Committee Chair Signals Interest In Preemptive Pardon From Biden

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), former chair of the January 6th Committee, indicated Thursday that he would accept a preemptive pardon from President Joe Biden if offered. The remark came during an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta, as speculation swirls over whether Biden will use his pardon power to shield allies from potential targeting under a second Trump administration.

Acosta posed the question bluntly during the exchange: “Congressman, apparently, the White House is discussing preemptive pardons for people who may be targeted by Trump when he gets back in office. Do you want the President to offer some kind of pardon to you? As strange as it is to ask that question, I’m just wondering what you think.”

Thompson, who led the high-profile committee investigating the January 6th breach on the U.S. Capitol, acknowledged the unusual nature of the discussion but said he would accept the offer. “Well, you know, the President, it’s his prerogative,” Thompson responded. “If he offers it to me or other members of the committee, I think I would accept it. But it’s his choice.”

“I thank the staff of the committee who did a wonderful job,” Thompson said. “I thank the witnesses who were primarily Republicans [and who] did a great job on the oath, were not found to have perjured themselves or anything like that. There’s nothing in the record that’s not already on point. We’ve had two years of review by Republican chairpersons, [and] they found nothing wrong. So there’s nothing that we kept out of the record. There’s nothing that we took out of the record.”

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Thompson doubled down on his confidence in the committee’s final report, encouraging the public to evaluate the findings for themselves. “We stand by the work of the committee. Our committee did a wonderful job. We shared it with the public. And all the public has to do is to read the report that we filed,” he said.

The January 6th Committee, which Thompson chaired, was criticized for its investigation into the Capitol breach and its findings. The panel’s report blamed Trump and his allies squarely, arguing that they incited the violence and failed to act decisively to stop it.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a highly anticipated report on Thursday exposing critical details about the FBI’s handling of its confidential human sources (CHS) leading up to the January 6, 2021, breach at the U.S. Capitol. The report confirmed that while the FBI officially assigned only three confidential sources to monitor the events of January 6, more than two dozen FBI CHS were in the crowd that day.

While only three confidential sources were officially tasked to monitor the rally, the report found that 26 confidential sources—spread across multiple FBI field offices—were present at the Capitol grounds. The majority attended of their own volition or due to pre-existing reporting assignments unrelated to January 6.

On Thursday, Biden granted clemency to roughly 1,500 people who were placed under house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the largest single-day clemency issuance in modern American history. Earlier this month, Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, for offenses committed from January 1, 2014, to December 1, 2024, including charges related to firearms and taxes.

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