Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Thursday Donald Trump has “never been about retribution” as the White House weighs the idea of preemptive pardons for people that have long been in the president-elect’s crosshairs.
Several media outlets reported Thursday that senior White House aides were having serious discussions about potential pardons for some of Trump’s political enemies. Names bandied about include former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), California Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D), and Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
Fox News host Larry Kudlow asked Jordan — a fierce backer of the president-elect — what Democrats were planning. The Ohio Republican went on to compare the effort to the group of Trump allies who asked the former president for pardons of their own during the waning days of his first term in office over their roles in the effort to overturn the 2020 election.
“[Democrats] went after some of my colleagues who they said asked for pardons, I don’t know that they ever did,” Jordan said Thursday. “This is ridiculous. Donald Trump has never been about retribution. Donald Trump has been stopping these agencies from being weaponized against we the people. And frankly, from being weaponized against him.”
Some of Trump’s closest allies in Congress that reportedly asked Trump for pardons included former Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Jordan himself was also identified as someone who talked about pardons for Trump’s allies, although he never asked for one himself, a former Trump official told the House Jan. 6 committee in 2022.
Despite Jordan’s claims on Thursday, Trump has repeatedly vowed to enact revenge on those he has deemed as political enemies. He said Cheney was among those on the House Jan. 6 committee who should “go to jail,” and he called Schiff and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) both “enemies from within.”
Trump has also regularly accused President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama of corruption, saying he would leverage the Justice Department to investigate them.
The president-elect has also announced his plans to nominate a slate of loyalists to lead the nation’s justice and law enforcement agencies, all of whom have long backed his plans for retribution.
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“I am your warrior, I am your justice,” Trump told supporters in Texas last year. “For those who have been wronged and betrayed … I am your retribution.”