Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is not saying “pardon me” — at least not to President Joe Biden.
Schiff, in an interview on ABC News’s “This Week” Sunday, said he does not want Biden to issue a preemptive pardon for his work on the Jan. 6 select committee.
As The Hill reported, anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Schiff if he thinks President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will prosecute those on the Jan. 6 committee.
“I don’t know what the Trump administration will do, but it’s for a couple of reasons,” Schiff said as to why he doesn’t want a preemptive pardon.
“First, those of us on the committee are very proud of the work we did. We were doing vital quintessential oversight of a violent attack on the Capitol,” Schiff said. “So I think it’s unnecessary.”
He added he does not like the precedent it would set.
“But second, the precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons on the way out of an administration, I think is a precedent we don’t want to set,” he added.
Schiff said he has told Biden his feelings regarding the matter.
“I’ve communicated it both publicly and privately to the administration,” he said.
Biden has been reportedly mulling preemptive pardons for those Trump has said he might target.This include members of the Jan. 6 committee.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), former chair of the Jan. 6 committee, said in an interview he would welcome a pardon.
“The president, it’s his prerogative,” Thompson said. “If he offers it, to me or other members of the committee, I think it, I would accept it, but it’s his choice.”
