Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) called for her Republican colleagues in the House to be “expelled” if they sought pardons from former President Donald Trump.
“They were willing to commit crimes in order to illegally seize power,” Ocasio-Cortez told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show. “No person of any power, of any seat, of any party, should be willing to do that in order to undermine our democracy.”
It came out last week in the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack’s public hearings that at least five lawmakers contacted the Trump administration about pardons indicating they may have thought there was some evidence that might have tied them to working to overturn the 2020 election. Those lawmakers include Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona), Mo Brooks (R-Alabama), Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), Louie Gohmert(R-Texas) and Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania).
“I do believe that many of these individuals need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in order to establish and to prove to ourselves and to the world, that there is rule of law in the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
