Ben Cohen, one of the co-founders of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's, was arrested on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon during a Senate hearing involving Health and Human Services (HHS) Department Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
United States Capitol Police (USCP) confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Cohen was among seven people arrested after they disrupted the hearing. While Cohen was only arrested on charges of obstruction, others involved in the protest were arrested for resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, Capitol Police said.
However, it is unclear how many people were charged with the more severe violations.
"RFK kills people with hate!" a protester yelled during the hearing as Kennedy delivered his opening statement.
"RFK kills people with hate!" the chant continued, with more voices joining in. "RFK kills people with hate!"
Multiple people were eventually escorted out of the room, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), paused the hearing.
In video of the disruption posted on X by The Daily Caller, Cohen can be seen being forcibly pulled out of the hearing room by a Capitol Police officer.
"Members of the audience are reminded disruptions will not be permitted while the committee conducts its business. Capitol Police are asked to remove the individuals from the hearing room," Cassidy said as Cohen was being wrangled out of the room.
"That was a made-for-C-SPAN moment," Cassidy quipped after things settled down.
Wednesday wasn't the first time Cohen has been arrested while protesting in the nation's capital. In 2023, he was arrested outside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for blocking the entrance to the Department of Justice (DOJ) building in Washington, D.C., where he was protesting the detainment of Julian Assange.
Ben & Jerry's is frequently a target of Republicans, who have slammed the company and its founders over their support of progressive activism and politicians. They are also frequent critics of Trump.
Ben & Jerry's has been known for its left-leaning advocacy since its founding in 1978, and the Vermont-based ice cream maker was able to maintain an independent board of directors to continue its progressive activism even after it sold to Unilever in 2000.
One of those moments included a decision by Ben & Jerry's in 2021 that ended the sale of its products to Israelis in the West Bank, which the company refers to as "Occupied Palestinian Territory."
More than two dozen protesters were arrested for disrupting the House Energy and Commerce's budget reconciliation markup on Tuesday, as Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., thanked those holding court in the hallway.
"Around 2 p.m., 26 people were arrested for illegally demonstrating in the Rayburn House Office Building. They were arrested for 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding. It is against the law to protest inside the Congressional Buildings," the U.S. Capitol Police Department told Fox News Digital.
Dozens of protesters, many in wheelchairs, filled the halls outside the John D. Dingell Room in the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday afternoon, chanting, "No cuts to Medicaid!" Several protesters, who were blocking the entrance to the committee room, were wheeled away and arrested by Capitol police after multiple warnings.
A defiant Booker walked by the budget markup during its first hour and was greeted by the cheers and whistles of those protesting Medicaid cuts. Booker, who spent more than 12 hours protesting President Donald Trump's agenda on the steps of the U.S. Capitol just two weeks ago, thanked the protesters for showing up to protect Medicaid.
A Capitol police officer confirmed to Fox News Digital that disruptors were arrested for protesting and would be processed and released immediately. Many protesters remained in the hallway during the first few hours of the markup as others were removed for shouting during the representative's testimonies and subsequently arrested.
"The audience is supportive that you're all here and participating. We want you here. You're part of the process. We want you to be here, but we have to proceed. And the rules of the House, and the law is that – if you're disruptive, you'll be removed, and you're subject to arrest. I don't make that decision, the Capitol Police does," Kentucky Republican Rep. Brett Guthrie, Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said following one of several disruptions by protesters.
Inside the budget markup, Democrats and Republicans sparred over rhetoric about Medicaid cuts. Democrats claimed the Republican budget bill would cut vital access to Medicaid, with many representatives sharing stories of their constituents who have benefited from its services. Meanwhile, Republicans accused Democrats of lying to the American people about Medicaid cuts – a word Guthrie deterred his colleagues from using.
"I want to send one very clear message: you're being lied to. The other side is telling you a lot of things about this legislation. I'm not sure they have read this legislation," Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., who chairs the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, said.
Republicans mostly avoided the deep cuts to Medicaid pushed by fiscal conservatives in the House Republican Conference, which could serve to benefit moderate Republicans who have fielded relentless attacks from Democrats over potential Medicaid cuts. House Republicans, however, have vowed to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program.
The committee's budget markup includes increased regulations and program cuts to Medicaid, including tightened address verification requirements, ensuring deceased individuals are not enrolled, more provider screening requirements, removing excess Medicaid payments, revising home equity limits for determining eligibility, prohibiting illegal immigrants from obtaining Medicaid services, ensuring accurate payments, prohibiting funding for gender transition procedures for minors and requirements for states to establish Medicaid community engagement programs.
"This budget does not cut Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security benefits for the Americans who truly need them. We are strengthening and protecting Medicaid for pregnant women, children, individuals with disabilities, low-income seniors and vulnerable families. These Americans will continue to have access to the care they need and deserve. What we are doing is eliminating waste, fraud and abuse," Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Indiana, told the committee.
But despite Republicans' assurances that the proposed budget does not cut Medicaid, Democrats testified, one after the other, about the threats program cuts pose to Americans.
"They are cutting this Medicaid care and these Medicaid dollars to pay for tax cuts for Elon Musk and billionaires, so this money isn't even going towards funding better care for people who are eligible… We are cutting money and health care from people and families who are suffering, to pay for tax cuts for the rich. It is a crime happening in front of the American public right now," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said.
The proposed legislation would put a new 80-hour-per-month work requirement on certain able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid, aged 19 through 64.
It would also put guardrails on states spending funds on their expanded Medicaid populations. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to adults who make up to 138% of the poverty level.
More specifically, states that provide Medicaid coverage to illegal immigrants could see their federal Medicaid reimbursement dollars diminished, putting more of that cost on the state itself.
The bill would also require states with expanded Medicaid populations to perform eligibility checks every six months to ensure the system is not being abused.
The Energy & Commerce Committee, which has broad jurisdiction, including over federal health programs, telecommunications and energy, was tasked with finding at least $880 billion in spending cuts to pay for other priorities in Trump's "big, beautiful bill."
Guthrie told House Republicans on a lawmaker-only call on Sunday night that the panel had found "north of $900 billion" in savings.
Under the floorboards of the U.S. Capitol lie hidden staircases and passageways left over from the iconic building's original construction in the 18th century, a viral video posted by Republican North Carolina Rep. Tim Moore shows.
"Construction started in the 1700s and there are all sorts of little hidden passageways. As you saw, I just pulled this cover up, and you can see," Moore said in a video posted to his official congressional X account on Friday, showing a secret door in the floor of the Capitol.
The U.S. Capitol's construction was commissioned in 1793, with President George Washington laying the cornerstone that same year. The original building was completed in 1826, with various expansions made across the decades, such as a visitor center that opened in 2008.
Moore took viewers inside the Capitol's Lincoln Room, which he said is one of his favorites to show visitors to Washington, D.C., noting it's where Abraham Lincoln would sit by a fire and read letters when he served as a congressman representing Illinois from 1847-1849.
"But the most interesting part of the room is underneath the floorboards," Moore posted to X.
The North Carolina Republican opened a hidden door on the floor, revealing a dusty and historic staircase leading to what appeared to be another room below.
"We're just off of what's called Statuary Hall, which at one time was the actual House chamber.… But this is just an example of some of the little hidden secrets in the Capitol," Moore said.
The lawmaker added that he heard through Capitol building lore that the staircase under the Lincoln Room was used by British soldiers in the War of 1812 to set fire to the historic building. Known as the "Burning of Washington," British soldiers in August 1814 set fire to the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Navy Yard and the White House – which was then known as the Presidential Mansion – before storms put out the fires and military personnel were called to D.C. to defend it from British forces. The War of 1812 ended in 1815.
Moore's tour of the secret staircase comes as President Donald Trump prepares to kick off America's 250th anniversary of its founding on July 4, 2026. Trump signed an executive order just days after his inauguration this year detailing how his administration will prepare for the massive celebration, including launching a White House task force, building monuments celebrating the nation's founding and historical leaders, and protecting monuments from vandalism following such attacks during the riots and protests that swept the nation in 2020.
The Army will hold a 250th anniversary of its founding next month with a planned parade that will stretch from Arlington, Virginia, to the National Mall.
President Donald Trump said it was "disappointing" that Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said he will not support the president's nominee to serve as U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Ed Martin.
"It's disappointing because, you know, I know that he's very talented," Trump said from the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon while taking questions from the media during a swearing-in ceremony for the U.S. ambassador to China, David Perdue. "Crime is down in Washington, D.C. Street crime, violent crime by 25%. And, that's, people have seen they've noticed a big difference."
Tillis sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing the confirmation process of Martin. The nominee has served as interim U.S. attorney since Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration but is facing a May 20 deadline to be confirmed.
Martin met with Senate lawmakers Monday, and Tillis told reporters Tuesday he wouldn't support Martin, throwing the nomination into limbo on the committee that is composed of 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats.
"I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination," Tillis told reporters Tuesday.
If an interim U.S. attorney is not confirmed by the Senate within 120 days, however, judges on the federal district court for that district could name a new interim U.S. attorney until the role is filled. Trump antagonist Judge James Boasberg, an Obama-appointed judge at the center of legal efforts targeting Trump's deportation efforts, is the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
"I didn't know that.… I feel very badly about it," Trump continued on Wednesday. "Only in the sense that, in this short period of time that he's been there, crime is down 25% in Washington, D.C., but that's really up to the senators. If they, you know, feel that way, they have to vote the way they vote, they have to follow their heart and they have to follow their mind."
When asked Tuesday if Tillis is comfortable with the left-wing court picking an interim U.S. attorney, his office told Fox News Digital it is the office's understanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi can pick an acting replacement, bypassing involvement from federal judges.
"Our understanding is that if the Senate does not confirm a U.S. attorney before an acting U.S. attorney’s term expires, the attorney general can still pick the next acting replacement as long as it is done before the original appointment expires under 28 USC 546," a spokesman for Tillis' office told Fox News Digital Tuesday.
The code referenced says, "If an appointment expires under subsection (c)(2), the district court for such district may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled. The order of appointment by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the court."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Justice about the statute Wednesday, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Martin previously worked as a defense attorney and represented Americans charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, which Tillis took issue with, he told reporters Tuesday. Trump granted clemency to more than 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants upon taking office.
"Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining the one area that I think he’s probably right, that there were some people that were over-prosecuted, but there were some, 200 or 300 of them that should have never gotten a pardon," Tillis said. "If Mr. Martin were being put forth as a U.S. attorney for any district except the district where Jan. 6 happened, the protest happened, I’d probably support him, but not in this district."
Trump and his administration have rallied support for Martin as his confirmation process comes down to the wire.
"His approval is IMPERATIVE in terms of doing all that has to be done to SAVE LIVES and to, MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN," Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.
"Ed Martin will be a big player in doing so and, I hope, that the Republican Senators will make a commitment to his approval, which is now before them."
A series of boisterous protests broke out at the start of the Senate confirmation hearing for Mike Huckabee, the nominee to be U.S.ambassador to Israel.
Capitol Police officers forcibly removed several protesters at three separate moments during the few minutes as Huckabee delivered his opening statement.
The activists shouted messages like "Jews say no" and "Free Palestine," and claimed Huckabee "misuses Christianity to justify ethnic cleansing."
"Israel and U.S. have desecrated the Holy Land, stop the ethnic cleansing," shouted another protester.
"The good news is they're not members of my family, which might be the case protesting me sometimes," Huckabee quipped.
Later on, a fourth set of protesters interrupted the hearing, prompting an annoyed Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, to sigh and say, "All right, out!"
Huckabee is set to answer questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, alongside Kevin Cabrera, nominee for ambassador to Panama, and Reed Rubinstein, nominee for legal adviser to the Department of State.
Trump nominated Huckabee, a staunch Israel supporter and evangelical Christian who served as governor of Arkansas, to take up the critical post as he works to end the 17-month war in Gaza.
Huckabee has described himself as an "unapologetic, unreformed Zionist."
During his opening statement, he described Israel as "holy ground to Jews, Christians and Muslims."
It comes as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas fell apart last week and Israel renewed its bombing campaign after it said Hamas was unwilling to negotiate on the next phase of a deal.
Huckabee expressed support for Trump's return to a "maximum pressure" policy on Iran as the regime draws closer to building a nuclear weapon.
"Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and it is better to bankrupt them than it is to bomb them," he said.
Asked about his previous comments supporting Israel's annexation of the West Bank, Huckabee emphasized that he would be serving at the prerogative of the president.
"I have previously supported it. Yes, sir. But it would not be my prerogative to make that the policy of the president."
He was then asked if he supported Israel annexing Gaza.
"Once again, it would be the prerogative of the president."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., pressed Huckabee on whether he agreed with Israel withholding food aid to Gaza.
"You don’t believe in collective punishment, do you?" he asked.
"I don't believe in collective punishment. If the Palestinians in Gaza have participated in the holding of hostages and in the torture –" Huckabee said.
"There are 2 million people there," Van Hollen interrupted. "Finance Minister Smotrich suggested, and I'm quoting, it might be justified and moral to starve 2 million Palestinians in Gaza as part of a strategy to free the hostages. Simple question: Do you disagree with Finance Minister Smotrich?"
"As you know, an ambassador doesn't get to argue with the people of the country," Huckabee said.
Colorado lawmakers spent hours Friday afternoon considering a Democrat-led resolution to condemn President Donald Trump's pardons of Jan. 6 prisoners while the state grapples with an estimated $1.2 billion budget shortfall for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
"With skyrocketing costs, a $1 billion budget deficit, rising crime and an affordability crisis pushing families to the brink, it is appalling that the majority is more focused on passing meaningless, partisan resolutions instead of addressing the real concerns of Coloradans," Republican minority leader Rep. Rose Pugliese told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Pugliese also called the resolution "political theater" to "divide rather than deliver results for our communities."
The measure passed by a 41-23 vote in the Democrat-controlled state House of Representatives. Rep. Lisa Feret, a Democrat, voted against the resolution.
Republicans, who spent time providing public comment against the bill, also turned their chairs around to face away from the assembly speaker during the hearing. Lawmakers tried to introduce several amendments to the resolution to change some of the phrasing used in the bill, but they were rejected.
"To Hell with your concerns about cost of living, crime, and other important issues," Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell wrote on X. "Democrats are running another January 6th resolution. We turned our chairs in protest, and now we’re having a debate about it."
State Republican Rep. Ryan Gonzalez also posted on X, saying, "The majority, instead of addressing issues the voters sent us to do—are instead passing messaging resolutions aimed *indirectly* at the sitting President."
The Colorado House GOP X account posted that "not one life in Colorado will be saved by this resolution."
Another X post said, "Democrats could be working on real solutions to our 1 BILLION dollar budget deficit. Instead, they are playing political games."
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who represents Colorado's 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House, tweeted, "Will Colorado Dems playing partisan politics lower the cost of eggs?"
The measure, sponsored by state Democratic senators Nick Hinrichsen and Matt Ball, passed along party lines in the state Senate earlier this month in a 21-12 vote. The Democratic lawmakers condemned Trump's pardons and the mass firings of FBI agents assigned to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
Democratic representatives Sean Camacho and Michael Carter were the sponsors of the state House version.
"Colorado House Republicans have now launched a full-throated defense of the January 6th rioters," state Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Democrat, wrote on Bluesky Social, an X-like social media platform favored by progressives. "They can turn their backs on America—but we see them, and we know the truth."
Democratic state Rep. Lorena Garcia also wrote on Bluesky Social saying, "While this resolution will pass, today is a wake up call to all Coloradans who believe in freedom, that the republican party is not a party that believes in freedom. It is the party of authoritarianism, it’s the party of fascism."
All the Jan. 6 defendants — more than 1,500 — were pardoned by Trump as one of his first executive actions in January.
House Democrats and the family of a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died a day after confronting rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection scolded President Donald Trump Wednesday over his actions related to the unrest since taking office.
U.S. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and the family of Brian Sicknick gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol to push for a resolution condemning Trump over the blanket pardons for the Jan. 6 defendants and the firing of federal prosecutors on those cases.
"They pardon criminals for violently assaulting cops, and they fire FBI agents and prosecutors for doing their jobs," Raskin said. "That's where we are in America today."
He added that Trump initially denounced the actions of the rioters before the "process of trying to redefine the meaning of the events of January 6th, to whitewash the atrocities that took place that day, to cover up and to shroud in doubt the violent assaults that took place on the police officers to make people believe that it wasn't Donald Trump's mega mob that attacked us."
Last month, Trump granted clemency to those charged in the riot, even those accused of violently assaulting police officers. In an interview with Fox News, he said the prison sentences for the defendants were excessive.
"These people have served, horribly, a long time," he said.
Thompson said the prosecutors who worked on the Jan. 6 cases were being scapegoated by the Trump administration.
"The people who did the hard work of tracking these 1,500 people down are now being told you didn't do your job," he said. "Now these people either pleaded guilty or they were found guilty, and so many of them assaulted law enforcement people and for now they are being rewarded and the people who are being patriots are being punished."
Ken Sicknick, brother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, said Trump's pardons reopened wounds from his brother's death.
"On January 20th, 2025, a convicted felon and twice-impeached politician pardoned approximately 1,600 criminals responsible for the destruction of property and the destruction of the lives of law enforcement and their families, such as mine," Sicknick said. "They were all convicted through due process. The investigations were thorough. The rule of law that the POTUS and the Republican cronies will tell you they stand for was smashed apart.
"It was smashed apart by the very same person who claimed that he is a friend of the police more than any president who's ever been in office."
Brian Sicknick, 42, suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after he confronted rioters during the riot. A medical examiner's report showed that Sicknick was sprayed with a chemical substance around 2:20 p.m. on Jan. 6 and collapsed at the Capitol around 10 p.m. that evening.
He died around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, according to the examiner's office. Ken Sicknick noted that most of the defendants released have shown no remorse for their actions.
"We do feel powerless in a lot of cases," he said. "What are we going to do? It's a tiny blue-collar family going against the president of the United States."
Coleman said a purge of Justice Department veteran prosecutors only benefits criminal groups that engage in drug trafficking and terrorism.
"If they were not suddenly the targets of a political takeover of the federal law enforcement, they would be working to stop terrorist attacks, stop drug trafficking and drug dealers, impede human traffickers and prosecute crime across this country if they were not targeted otherwise," she said.
FBI employees who "simply followed orders" with respect to their investigations into Jan. 6 defendants will not be fired or face any other penalties, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove confirmed in an internal memo.
Bove's memo this week accused Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll of refusing to reply to requests from President Donald Trump's administration to identify "the core team in Washington, D.C. responsible for the investigation relating to events on January 6, 2021."
"That insubordination necessitated, among other things, the directive in my January 31, 2025 memo to identify all agents assigned to investigations relating to January 6, 2021. In light of acting leadership’s refusal to comply with the narrower request, the written directive was intended to obtain a complete data set that the Justice Department can reliably pare down to the core team that will be the focus of the weaponization review pursuant to the Executive Order," Bove wrote.
"Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties," Bove continued. "The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI."
"There is no honor in the ongoing efforts to distort that simple truth or protect culpable actors from scrutiny on these issues, which have politicized the Bureau, harmed its credibility, and distracted the public from the excellent work being done every day. If you have witnessed such behavior, I encourage you to report it through appropriate channels," he added.
Bove's latest memo comes after a group of nine FBI agents filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block the public identification of any FBI employees who worked on the Jan. 6 investigations.
The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit anonymously in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said that any effort to review or discriminate against FBI employees involved in the Jan. 6 investigations would be "unlawful and retaliatory," and a violation of civil service protections under federal law.
The lawsuit cited the questionnaire employees were required to fill out detailing their specific role in the Jan. 6 investigation and Mar-a-Lago investigation led by former Special Counsel Jack Smith.
President Donald Trump declined to answer questions on Monday over whether his administration would remove FBI employees involved in the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, telling reporters only that he believes the bureau is "corrupt" and that his nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, will "straighten it out."
Fox News' Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report
The Justice Department filed a motion Friday asking to lift the order imposed on commuted Jan. 6 defendants barring them from entering Washington, D.C., and the Capitol building. The order was issued by a federal district judge earlier in the day.
In that order, Judge Amit P. Mehta specified it applied to "Defendants Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerchel, and Joseph Hacket," whose sentences were commuted.
Those pardoned are not subject to the order.
The order states, "You must not knowingly enter the District of Columbia without first obtaining the permission from the Court," and, "You must not knowingly enter the United States Capitol Building or onto surrounding grounds known as Capitol Square."
The filing says the order is effective as of Friday at noon.
Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, was previously seen in the Capitol complex's Longworth House office building. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Martin filed a motion later Friday to lift all release conditions on the defendants.
"As the terms of supervised release and probation are included in the ‘sentences’ of the defendants, the Court may not modify the terms of supervised release," the filing reads.
President Donald Trump pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 defendants earlier this week, after promising to do so at his inaugural parade.
Trump signed off on releasing more than 1,500 charged with crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol on Monday. The order required the Federal Bureau of Prisons to act immediately on receipt of the pardons.
Those pardoned in his initial order included Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman, who faced a sentence of 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.
Several prominent figures on the Hill came after Trump and his decision to pardon the defendants.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters the pardons were "deeply un-American."
"There is no other way to describe President Trump's pardon of Jan. 6th defenders than un-American," Schumer said. "It is so deeply un-American to do that, to pardon. And let's be clear, President Trump didn't just pardon protesters. He pardoned individuals convicted of assaulting police officers. He pardoned individuals convicted of seditious conspiracy. And he pardoned those who attempted to undermine our democracy."
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called Trump's pardon "shameful," and "a betrayal" to those police officers "who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peacefyl transfer of power."
"The President's actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution," Pelosi said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Fox News Digital's Diana Stancy and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
The Justice Department filed a motion Friday asking to lift the order imposed on commuted Jan. 6 defendants barring them from entering Washington, D.C., and the Capitol building. The order was issued by a federal district judge earlier in the day.
In the filing, Judge Amit P. Mehta specified the order applied to "Defendants Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerchel, and Joseph Hacket," whose sentences were commuted.
Those pardoned are not subject to the order.
The order states, "You must not knowingly enter the District of Columbia without first obtaining the permission from the Court," and, "You must not knowingly enter the United States Capitol Building or onto surrounding grounds known as Capitol Square."
The filing says the order is effective as of Friday at noon.
Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, was previously seen in the Capitol complex's Longworth House office building. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Martin filed a motion later Friday to lift all release conditions on the defendants.
"As the terms of supervised release and probation are included in the ‘sentences’ of the defendants, the Court may not modify the terms of supervised release," the filing reads.
President Donald Trump pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 defendants earlier this week, after promising to do so at his inaugural parade.
Trump signed off on releasing more than 1,500 charged with crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol on Monday. The order required the Federal Bureau of Prisons to act immediately on receipt of the pardons.
Those pardoned in his initial order included Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman, who faced a sentence of 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.
Several prominent figures on the Hill came after Trump and his decision to pardon the defendants.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters the pardons were "deeply un-American."
"There is no other way to describe President Trump's pardon of Jan. 6th defenders than un-American," Schumer said. "It is so deeply un-American to do that, to pardon. And let's be clear, President Trump didn't just pardon protesters. He pardoned individuals convicted of assaulting police officers. He pardoned individuals convicted of seditious conspiracy. And he pardoned those who attempted to undermine our democracy."
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called Trump's pardon "shameful," and "a betrayal" to those police officers "who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peacefyl transfer of power."
"The President's actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution," Pelosi said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Fox News Digital's Diana Stancy and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
The Justice Department has recommended that a Pennsylvania barber convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot face 20 years behind bars.
Ryan Samsel was found guilty in February 2024 on several charges, including assaulting federal officers, carrying out an act of physical violence on the Capitol grounds and obstruction of an official proceeding.
The DOJ proposed a sentence of 240 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $2,000 restitution and a fine, according to court documents.
"A sentence of 240 months of incarceration reflects the gravity of Samsel’s conduct and provides sufficient deterrence given Samsel’s continued lack of remorse, active and public rehashing of false narratives, violent criminal history, and interest in assaulting the Capitol again," the DOJ wrote in a memorandum.
Samsel was the first rioter to breach the restricted perimeter of the Capitol with other supporters of now-President-elect Donald Trump in an effort to delay the certification of President Biden's 2020 election victory, according to the DOJ.
He was found guilty of verbally abusing officers, forcibly pushing and pulling on metal barricades, and assaulting an officer by lifting a metal barricade and striking him in the face with it.
Police subsequently became overwhelmed as "the floodgates opened" and "thousands of rioters poured onto the West Front of the U.S. Capitol grounds," the DOJ said in the document.
"Samsel spent the next hour and a half terrorizing the police on the West Front," the document said. "He assaulted the police with his flag, grabbed another officer’s shield, tore at scaffolding, flashed officers, grabbed a 2x4 plank and hurled it at the police line, and threw a pole at a different police line."
"Samsel was proud of his actions on that day, taking the time to record a selfie video during the riot and announce with a smile that he had breached the Capitol," the DOJ wrote. "Samsel was still proud of his actions years later when he told an interviewer that his actions on January 6th were justified, because 'sometimes civil disorder is needed.'"
President-elect Trump blasted special counsel Jack Smith as a "disgrace" to himself and the country following Smith's resignation from the Justice Department.
Smith's resignation was announced in a court filing Saturday.
"The Special Counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the Department on January 10," a footnote in the filing said.
Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday to criticize Smith for his investigations into the incoming president.
"Deranged Jack Smith was fired today by the DOJ. He is a disgrace to himself, his family, and his Country. After spending over $100,000,000 on the Witch Hunt against TRUMP, he left town empty handed!" Trump wrote.
Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate Trump's role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his mishandling of classified documents.
Smith previously served as acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee in 2017 during Trump's first administration.
The resignation comes ahead of the release of Smith's report on the case related to Trump's role in the attack on the Capitol. A recent court filing revealed that Garland plans to release the report soon, possibly before Trump takes office next week.
"As I have made clear regarding every Special Counsel who has served since I took office, I am committed to making as much of the Special Counsel's report public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy," Garland wrote in a recent letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
A judge from a federal appeals court ruled on Friday against blocking the release of Smith's report.
After Trump's presidential election victory in November, Smith filed motions to bring his cases against the president-elect to a close.
Smith asked a judge in late November to drop the charges against Trump in the case related to the Capitol riot. Prior to that request, Smith filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in that case, which was anticipated after Trump's electoral win.
Trump said after the cases were dropped that they "should never have been brought."
"These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Fox News' Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
Minnesota Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar is facing blowback from both X users and the platform itself over her post about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot in which she claimed police officers were "injured and killed."
"Four years ago, the electoral vote certification was interrupted by a violent mob. Police officers were injured and killed," Klobuchar posted on X on Tuesday. "Our democracy hung in the balance. I knew we had to do our duty and complete the count – and in the early hours of January 7th, we did."
That post was soon slapped with a "Community Note" by X that said, "No officers were killed."
"The medical examiner found Sicknick died of natural causes which means ‘a disease alone causes death. If death is hastened by an injury, the manner of death is not considered natural.’ Four other officers committed suicide days to months later."
"No police officers were killed," conservative commentator Dana Loesch posted on X.
"Zero police officers were killed," Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. "The time to stop lying about this was a long time ago."
"Can someone explain to me why it's okay for politicians to continually lie about this?" Bonchie added. "Let's say you think J6 is the worst thing ever. Fine, but how does that make it acceptable to say officers were killed? It's four years later and the fact-checkers still won't touch this."
"It is so sick to see people lie about who was killed," Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway posted on X. "A Trump supporter was shot and killed, but no police officers were killed. Someone of your stature should not be lying brazenly about this. Just sick."
"She should be censured for this lie," Right Turn Strategies President Chris Barron posted on X.
"Not a single officer was killed on Jan 6," Federalist Election Correspondent Brianna Lyman posted on X. "Sicknick died of natural causes on Jan. 7 Two officers died by su*cide in the weeks following while two other officers who were not present at the time of the protest later died by su*cide that could not directly be tied to J6."
"No police officers were killed," conservative writer Ben Kew posted on X. "The only person who was murdered was Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter."
Fox News Digital reached out to Klobuchar’s office for comment but did not receive a response.
U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after he confronted rioters on Jan. 6, according to Washington's top medical examiner.
"The USCP accepts the findings from the District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner that Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes," the Capitol Police said in a 2021 press release. "This does not change the fact Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol."
Law enforcement officials testified in 2021 that about 140 police officers were injured in the riot.
The Justice Department is considering charging up to 200 more people for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a report says.
The new figures released Monday on the 4-year anniversary of the incident include 60 people suspected of assaulting or impeding police officers, according to Politico.
President-elect Trump is set to be sworn in as the country’s next president in just two weeks. In December, Trump told NBC that he wanted to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters on the first day of his administration and said people on the Jan. 6 committee in Congress belonged in jail.
"I’m going to look at everything. We’ll look at individual cases," Trump said at the time. "But I’m going to be acting very quickly."
Around 1,600 people so far have faced federal charges relating to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 600 who allegedly assaulted or resisted police, Politico reported.
Nearly 200 of the defendants were charged with carrying a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds and 153 were accused of destruction of government property – but the new figures released Monday are the first time the Justice Department has estimated how many cases are yet to be prosecuted, Politico added.
The news outlet also reported that around 1,100 Jan. 6 defendants have been convicted and reached sentencing, but 300 of the already charged cases have not entered the trial stage yet.
"Over the past four years, our prosecutors, FBI agents, investigators, and analysts have conducted one of the most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in the Justice Department’s history," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Monday.
"They have analyzed massive amounts of physical and digital data, identified and arrested hundreds of people who took part in unlawful conduct that day, and initiated prosecutions and secured convictions across a wide range of criminal conduct. We have now charged more than 1,500 individuals for crimes that occurred on January 6, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack," he continued.
"The public servants of the Justice Department have sought to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6 attack on our democracy with unrelenting integrity. They have conducted themselves in a manner that adheres to the rule of law and honors our obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country," Garland added.
President Biden on Sunday was asked by reporters if he still thought Trump was a threat to democracy.
"We've got to get back to establishing basic democratic norms," Biden told reporters in the White House East Room. "I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy. I'm hopeful that we are beyond that."
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans are demanding answers on whether confidential human sources from Justice Department agencies beyond the FBI were used on Jan. 6, 2021, while also questioning whether Inspector General Michael Horowitz thoroughly reviewed classified and unclassified communications between handlers and their sources, warning that without that review, there may be a "major blind spot" in his findings.
Horowitz last week released his highly anticipated report that there were more than two dozen FBI confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but only three were assigned by the bureau to be present for the event. Horowitz said none of the sources were authorized or directed by the FBI to "break the law" or "encourage others to commit illegal acts."
But now, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., are demanding further information from Horowitz, writing to him in a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital that it is "unclear" if his office reviewed the use of confidential human sources by other DOJ components during the Capitol riot.
"This IG report was a step in the right direction, but Senator Johnson and I still have questions the Justice Department needs to account for," Grassley told Fox News Digital. "The American people deserve a full picture of whether Justice Department sources from its component agencies, in addition to the FBI, were present on January 6, what their role was, and whether DOJ had knowledge of their attendance."
Grassley told Fox News Digital that Horowitz and his team "must redouble its efforts to make sure it has reviewed all relevant information and provide a sufficient response to our inquiry."
Johnson told Fox News Digital he believes the report made public last week "may have only provided a fraction of the story regarding the presence and activities of confidential human sources or undercover federal agents in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021."
"I urge the Inspector General’s office to be fully transparent about their work to ensure that Congress and the public have an accurate and complete understanding about what it actually reviewed," Johnson said.
In their letter to Horowitz, Grassley and Johnson noted that the inspector general’s office received more than 500,000 documents from the Justice Department and its components as part of its investigation.
"According to the report, your office obtained: CHS reporting, thousands of tips provided to the FBI, investigative and intelligence records from the FBI case management system, emails, instant messages, and phone records; contemporaneous notes of meetings and telephone calls; chronologies concerning the lead-up of events to January 6; after-action assessments; training materials and policy guides; and preparatory materials for press conferences or congressional testimony as well as talking points," they wrote.
Grassley and Johnson told Horowitz "it is vital" that his office "more precisely explain what records it sought and received from all DOJ component agencies."
Grassley and Johnson are demanding answers on whether Horowitz obtained evidence on whether other DOJ component agencies had tasked or untasked undercover confidential human sources in the Washington, D.C., area or at the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
They are also asking if all communications were obtained between DOJ component agency handlers and confidential human sources or undercover agents present in the D.C. area, and whether he has received classified and unclassified non-email communication platforms used by the FBI.
Grassley and Johnson are also demanding Horowitz share all FD-1023 forms, or confidential human source reporting documents, used in the investigation with them.
As for his initial report, Horowitz "determined that none of these FBI CHSs was authorized by the FBI to enter the Capitol or a restricted area or to otherwise break the law on January 6, nor was any CHS directed by the FBI to encourage others to commit illegal acts on January 6."
The report revealed that the FBI had a minor supporting role in responding on Jan. 6, 2021 – largely because the event was not deemed at the highest security level by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Horowitz, though, said the FBI took significant and appropriate steps to prepare for that role.
According to the report, there were a total of 26 confidential human sources in the crowd that day, but only three of them were assigned by the bureau to be there.
One of the three confidential human sources tasked by the FBI to attend the rally entered the Capitol building, while the other two entered the restricted area around the Capitol.
If a confidential human source is directed to be at a certain event, they are paid by the FBI for their time.
Attorneys at the Department of Justice are urging federal judges to reject petitions from at least two Jan. 6 defendants who are asking that they be allowed to return to the nation's capital for President-elect Trump's inauguration.
Cindy Young, convicted of four misdemeanors for her involvement in the riot at the Capitol, and Russell Taylor, who pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge, both petitioned the courts to allow them to return to Washington, D.C., despite provisions of their sentences requiring them to stay away.
"Contrary to Young’s self designation that she ‘poses no threat of danger to the community,’ Young presents a danger to the D.C. community, including the very law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021," U.S. attorneys said in response to Young's petition. The federal attorneys cited calls from Young "for retribution against those involved in January 6 prosecutions" and argued that she has failed "to recognize the seriousness of her actions."
A request from Taylor, who was invited to attend the inauguration by members of Utah's congressional delegation, is also being challenged by attorneys at the Department of Justice who argue that the serious nature of his crimes should preclude him from being able to "return to the scene of the crime."
"He is asking for the Court to bless his desire to return to the scene of the crime, and the Court should not look past his criminal conduct the last time he was on Capitol grounds," the U.S. attorneys wrote in a filing to U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. The attorneys added in their court filing that, while they had granted previous travel requests to other defendants involved in the Capitol siege, those approvals were to support people's continued employment, and the requests did not involve travel to the nation's capital.
However, another Jan. 6 defendant, Eric Peterson, who was convicted of a misdemeanor in November for his involvement in the Capitol riot but has yet to be sentenced, was given approval by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to travel to the District for Trump's swearing-in ceremony, according to Peterson's criminal case docket. Notably, the docket did not include any responses from the Department of Justice urging Chutkan to deny Peterson's request.
There remains uncertainty around whether Trump will pardon any, some or all of those defendants who were convicted of crimes as a result of their involvement in the U.S. Capitol siege that occurred in 2021.
Trump has said at times that pardons will be reserved for those who remained peaceful on that fateful day; however, at other points he has suggested a blanket pardon for all those who were convicted. One thing that he has been steadfast on is that the pardons will come quickly following his inauguration on Jan. 20.
The Department of Justice declined to comment for this story.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney is facing calls from GOP legislators that the FBI investigate her for "potential criminal witness tampering" related to her former role on the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, a report released Tuesday by the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., details.
"Based on the evidence obtained by this Subcommittee, numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, the former Vice Chair of the January 6 Select Committee, and these violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge," the report, which was provided to Fox Digital, found.
The Jan. 6 committee was founded in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by supporters of Trump ahead of President Biden officially taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House.
The committee concluded its 18-month investigation last year, when Republicans regained control of the House and sent referrals to the Justice Department recommending Trump be criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the lead-up to supporters breaching the Capitol. The committee was composed of seven Democrats and two Republican lawmakers, Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom are no longer in office.
Loudermilk's subcommittee was tapped to investigate the J6 committee and its findings in January 2023.
The House Republicans' report Tuesday specifically took issue with Cheney’s alleged "direct intervention" with Hutchinson, who was considered the star witness of the investigation, including allegedly encouraging Hutchinson to hire "Select Committee-friendly attorneys to represent her," as opposed to keeping her original legal representation.
Hutchinson, who worked as an aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, had claimed before the select committee that on Jan. 6, 2021, she was told Trump allegedly became "irate" and attempted to join supporters at the Capitol ahead of them breaching the government building. The incident reportedly unfolded after Trump delivered a speech at the Ellipse, which is a park just south of the White House fence.
Hutchinson alleged she was told Trump attempted to grab the steering wheel of a Secret Service SUV before the driver reportedly told Trump to remove his hand and that they were headed to the White House, not the Capitol. Hutchinson’s account was directly refuted by Anthony Ornato, who served as White House deputy chief of staff for operations under Trump after decades in the Secret Service.
Less than two weeks after firing her original attorney, and hiring "the attorneys Representative Cheney suggested – Hutchinson sat for her fourth transcribed interview with the Select Committee under unusual circumstances," the report found.
"Prior to this interview, nearly every interview the Select Committee conducted included approximately a dozen people – including committee staff members, committee counsel, often a Member of the Select Committee, the interviewee, and the interviewee’s legal representation. Most of the interviews were done in large conference rooms or over zoom, allowing space for all participants. Hutchinson’s fourth transcribed interview, however, was vastly different. It consisted of only four people: Representative Cheney, one attorney from the Select Committee, Hutchinson, and Hutchinson’s new counsel. Additionally, instead of the Select Committee conducting the interview in a conference room or virtually, Representative Cheney used her private hideaway inside of the United States Capitol Building," the report states.
The House Republican report continued that Hutchinson’s testimony to the Jan. 6 committee was crucial, arguing "it is unlikely the Select Committee could make its assertions about President Trump’s mood, attitude, and alleged culpability in the events of January 6" without her comments.
"Hutchinson is mentioned by name in the Select Committee’s Final Report no fewer than 185 times. Inexplicably, the Select Committee discredited the multitude of legitimate witnesses who, under oath, repeatedly refuted Hutchinson’s testimony. These legitimate witnesses include senior government officials and federal agents."
Cheney, in comments provided to Fox News Digital on Tuesday afternoon, defended her former committee's investigation, while arguing Loudermilk's report "intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence."
"January 6th showed Donald Trump for who [he] really is – a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave," Cheney said to Fox News Digital.
"The January 6th Committee’s hearings and report featured scores of Republican witnesses, including many of the most senior officials from Trump’s own White House, campaign and Administration. All of this testimony was painstakingly set out in thousands of pages of transcripts, made public along with a highly detailed and meticulously sourced 800 page report. Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s 'Interim Report' intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did. Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously."
The Democratic former chair of the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, also slammed Loudermilk's report in a comment to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
"Representative Loudermilk has failed to discredit the work of the January 6th Select Committee. His so-called 'report' is filled with baseless, conclusory allegations rather than facts. That’s because there’s no escaping the reality that Donald Trump bears the responsibility for the deadly January 6th attack no matter how much Mr. Loudermilk would love to rewrite history for his political purposes," he said.
The president-elect railed in an interview on NBC earlier this month that Cheney, Thompson and others on the J6 committee "deleted and destroyed" evidence related to the investigation and "should go to jail."
"Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps," he said in the interview. "They deleted and destroyed all evidence."
"And Cheney was behind it. And so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee," he continued. "For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail."
Trump's claims of the committee allegedly "deleting" evidence was supported by a previous report released by Loudermilk earlier this year claiming the select committee "deleted" records and hired "Hollywood producers" to promote a political narrative while investigating Jan. 6.
The report released Tuesday found that the Jan. 6 committee failed to archive "as many as 900 interview summaries or transcripts," despite a process for committee chairs to properly archive data, including interviews.
"As part of its investigation, the Subcommittee learned that the Select Committee failed to archive or provide the Subcommittee with any of its video recordings of witness interviews, as many as 900 interview summaries or transcripts, more than one terabyte of digital data. Concerningly, of the documents that were archived, the Select Committee delivered more than 100 encrypted, password protected documents and never provided the passwords. It is unclear why the Select Committee chose only those documents to be shielded by password," the report found.
The Jan. 6 committee, the report found, failed to archive more than "one terabyte of digital data" after Thompson reported archiving more than four terabytes of data in a July 2022 letter. The subcommittee ultimately received less than three terabytes of digital data.
"One terabyte of data is equivalent to 6.5 million document pages such as PDFs or office files, 500 hours of high definition video, or 250,000 photos," the report noted.
Thompson previously denied the claims of deleting evidence in a July 2023 letter to Loudermilk, detailing that the committee had called on the federal government regarding the "proper archiving of such sensitive material to protect witnesses’ safety, national security, and to safeguard law enforcement operations."
Thompson provided three "facts" in response to the report Tuesday in comment to Fox Digital.
"Here are the facts: (1) The Select Committee was properly constituted, as every court that heard challenges found. Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro would not have gone to prison for contempt of Congress had there been a legitimate issue. Not even the Republican-controlled Supreme Court stayed their sentences, despite Mr. Loudermilk’s entreaties. (2) The Select Committee followed all House Rules, and it did not withhold or destroy any record that was required to be archived. Moreover, every record the Select Committee had was turned over to the Department of Justice, which was in turn provided to the former President’s defense team through the discovery process during his criminal proceedings. Most of those records are publicly available through the Government Publishing Office’s online repository," he said.
"(3) The Members of the Select Committee and the witnesses who came before us – who were mainly Republicans from the Trump administration – acted honorably and out of patriotic duty to the Constitution. The Select Committee’s Final Report was not based on any single witness’s testimony, and it painted a damning picture of the former President’s dereliction of duty. That work stands on its own."
Thompson added that Loudermilk failed to "to find a single valid problem with the Select Committee’s work," that reflects what he said is an "inescapable conclusion."
"Donald Trump orchestrated a multi-part conspiracy that attempted to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 Presidential election by summoning a mob to Washington to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history," he said.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tapped Loudermilk to investigate both the Jan. 6 incident itself and the Jan. 6 House Select Committee’s report on the Capitol breach in January 2023.
"Over the past twenty-four months of this investigation, my subcommittee staff have faced incredible obstacles in pursuit of the truth; missing and deleted documents, hidden evidence, unaccounted for video footage, and uncooperative bureaucrats. At one point, the work of the subcommittee was completely halted due to the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, and subsequently faced internal efforts to derail the investigation. However, our team persevered through the delays; and, when Mike Johnson took the gavel as Speaker of the House, he allocated even more resources to our investigation and committed to more transparency for the American people," Loudermilk wrote in a letter to colleagues accompanying the report.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said there were more than two dozen confidential human sources (CHSs) in the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but only three were assigned by the FBI to be present for the event, while stressing that none of the sources was authorized or directed by the bureau to "break the law" or "encourage others to commit illegal acts," Fox News has learned.
Horowitz on Thursday released his highly anticipated report on the FBI’s Handling of its Confidential Human Sources and Intelligence Collection Efforts in the Lead Up to the Jan. 6, 2021 Electoral Certification.
"Today’s report also details our findings regarding FBI CHSs who were in Washington, D.C., on January 6," the report states. "Our review determined that none of these FBI CHSs was authorized by the FBI to enter the Capitol or a restricted area or to otherwise break the law on January 6, nor was any CHS directed by the FBI to encourage others to commit illegal acts on January 6."
The report revealed that the FBI had a minor supporting role in responding on Jan. 6, 2021 — largely because the event was not deemed at the highest security level by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Horowitz, though, said the FBI took significant and appropriate steps to prepare for that role.
According to the report, there were a total of 26 confidential human sources in the crowd that day, but only three of them were assigned by the bureau to be there.
One of the three confidential human sources tasked by the FBI to attend the rally entered the Capitol building, while the other two entered the restricted area around the Capitol.
If a confidential human source is directed to be at a certain event, they are paid by the FBI for their time.
"One FBI field office tasked a CHS to travel to DC to report on the activities of a predicated domestic terrorism subject who was separately planning to travel to DC for the January 6 Electoral Certification; a second FBI field office tasked a CHS to travel to DC to potentially report on two domestic terrorism (DT) subjects from another FBI field office who were planning to travel to DC for the events of January 6; and a third CHS, who had informed their handling agent that they intended to travel to DC on their own initiative for the events of January 6, was similarly tasked by their field office to potentially report on two DT subjects from other FBI field offices who were planning to travel to DC for the events of January 6," the report states.
Horowitz stressed that no sources were encouraged or authorized by the FBI to enter the Capitol or any restricted area and stressed that they were not encouraged or authorized to commit any illegal acts.
Twenty-three of the confidential human sources present on Jan. 6 came to Washington, D.C., to the Capitol on their own. Of that group, three entered the Capitol during the riot, and an additional 11 sources entered the restricted area around the Capitol.
But Horowitz said that investigators "found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6."
As for reimbursements to confidential human sources, Horowitz stated that at least one was "reimbursed" for their travel, even though that CHS "was only tasked with attending the Inauguration and not the electoral certification on January 6."
The FBI, reacting to Horowitz's report Thursday, said the bureau "did not have primary responsibility for intelligence collection or event security on January 6 but nonetheless ‘recognized the potential for violence and took significant and appropriate steps to prepare forthis supporting role.’ Further, the Report includes the OIG’s analysis regarding the FBI’s use of confidential human sources (CHSs), and concludes that no FBI CHSs ‘were authorized to enter the Capitol or a restricted area or to otherwise break the law on January 6, nor was any CHS directed by the FBI to encourage others to commit illegal acts on January 6.’"
The FBI said it accepts Horowitz's recommendations moving forward, specifically for the FBI to "assess the processes and procedures it uses to prepare for events that it determines present potential domestic security issues — but have not been designated as NSSE or SEAR events by DHS — to ensure that its processes and procedures set forth with clarity the division of responsibilities between and within the relevant FBI field office and FBI Headquarters."
The FBI said that DHS has since designated the upcoming 2025 certification of the election a national special security event, and said the bureau "is coordinating closely with DHS, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Capitol Police and other responsible agencies in preparation for the 2025 electoral certification and the subsequent Presidential Inauguration."
"The FBI is nonetheless committed to assessing our policies and procedures for other, non-NSSE future events, as recommended, to ensure that they clearly set forth the division of labor among FBI field offices and divisions," the FBI said.
Horowitz had testified on Capitol Hill earlier this year before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.
During the hearing, Horowitz did not deny that federal government confidential human sources were in the crowd during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
"This report confirms what we suspected," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital. "The FBI had encouraged and tasked confidential human sources to be at the capitol that day. There were 26 total present. Four entered the Capitol and weren’t charged, which is not the same treatment that other Americans received."
Jordan added: "This has been our concern all along — agencies being weaponized against the American people. It’s not how our system is supposed to work."
Jordan reminded that there were two inspector general reports released this week — this report focused on CHSs on Jan. 6, and one earlier in the week about the FBI spying on congressional staffers during its Trump-Russia probe, including President-elect Trump's nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, while he was on the House Intelligence Committee.
"There were two IG reports this week and I think they may have had something to do with Mr. Wray's announcement this week," Jordan said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday announced he will resign next month before Trump takes office.
"When Chris Wray first got there back in 2017, the FBI was spying on congressional hill staffers, including the guy who is slated to replace him, and then the day after he announces he's leaving, this report comes out and confirms what so many of us suspected, that there were these confidential human sources present on Jan. 6," Jordan said.
Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, responded to President-elect Donald Trump floating jail time for members of the former congressional committee, underlining he is "not afraid of [Trump's] most recent threats."
"Donald Trump has shamefully undermined the rule of law, degraded our democracy, and eroded our Constitution for years, and his latest lies about the work of the January 6th Select Committee are just the latest installment. But let me be clear: Those of us who investigated his central role in the January 6th insurrection are simply not afraid of his most recent threats," Thompson said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday.
"Donald Trump and his minions can make all the assertions they want – but no election, no conspiracy theory, no pardon, and no threat of vengeful prosecution can rewrite history or wipe away his responsibility for the deadly violence on that horrific day. We stood up to him before, and we will continue to do so."
Trump joined NBC’s "Meet the Press" for an interview that aired Sunday, when the president-elect railed that former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, Thompson and others on the J6 committee "deleted and destroyed" evidence related to the investigation and "should go to jail."
"Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps," he said in the interview. "They deleted and destroyed all evidence."
"And Cheney was behind it. And so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee," he continued. "For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail."
Trump’s comments that aired Sunday come as President Biden reportedly mulls issuing blanket, "preemptive pardons" to those viewed as Trump’s political foes, such as Cheney, Thompson and California Sen.-elect Adam Schiff.
Thompson added in his statement to Fox Digital that the committee diligently followed House rules throughout the investigation. "Our committee was fully authorized by the House, all rules were properly followed, and our work product stands on its own. In fact, in the two years since we have completed our work, no court or legal body has refuted it."
Cheney, a longtime outspoken critic of Trump’s, also responded to Trump’s remarks earlier this week, slamming the suggestion of jail time as "a continuation of his assault on the rule of law."
"Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power," Cheney said in a response statement to Trump, which was provided to Fox News Digital. "He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave."
The Jan. 6 committee was founded in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by supporters of Trump ahead of President Biden officially taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House.
The committee concluded its 18-month investigation last year, when Republicans regained control of the House and sent referrals to the Justice Department recommending Trump be criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the lead-up to supporters breaching the Capitol.
Trump has previously alleged that members of the committee "deleted" evidence amid the investigation, which was supported by a report released by House Republicans released earlier this year claiming the select committee "deleted" records and hired "Hollywood producers" to promote a political narrative while investigating Jan. 6.
Among its key findings, the report claimed that the select committee was designed "to promote a political narrative" and also asserted that it "deleted records and hid evidence" ahead of Republicans taking the House majority during the 2022 election cycle.
"THE SELECT COMMITTEE DELETED RECORDS AND HID EVIDENCE - Reps. Thompson and Cheney failed to turn over video recordings of witness interviews and depositions despite using these recordings in their high-profile, primetime hearings. The Subcommittee recovered over one hundred deleted or password-protected files, including some files that were deleted days before Republicans took the majority. They also hid multiple transcribed interviews of witnesses who had firsthand knowledge of Trump‘s actions on January 6," the report, which was spearheaded by Republican Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, found.
Thompson denied the claims of deleting evidence in a July 2023 letter to Loudermilk, detailing that the committee had called on the federal government regarding the "proper archiving of such sensitive material to protect witnesses’ safety, national security, and to safeguard law enforcement operations." Cheney has also publicly and repeatedly denied claims the committee mishandled evidence.
"Donald Trump knows his claims about the select committee are ridiculous and false, as has been detailed extensively, including by Chairman Thompson," Cheney continued in her response to Trump’s remarks over the weekend, referring to Thompson’s 2023 letter. "There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting – a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee – and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct."
The pardon debate – individual, group, partisan, preemptive – is spinning out of control.
In his "Meet the Press" interview, Donald Trump mocked Joe Biden’s repeated assurances about Hunter: "‘I’m not going to give my son a pardon. I will not under any circumstances give him a pardon.’ I watch this and I always knew he was going to give him a pardon."
In a portion of that interview that did not air but was posted online, the president-elect complained to Kristen Welker:
"The press was obviously unfair to me. The press, no president has ever gotten treated by the press like I was."
Why did he appear on "Meet the Press"? "You’re very hostile," Trump said. Her response: "Well, hopefully, you thought it was a fair interview. We covered a lot of policy grounds."
"It’s fair only in that you allowed me to say what I say. But you know, the answers to questions are, you know, pretty nasty. But look, because I’ve seen you interview other people like Biden."
"I’ve never interviewed President Biden," Welker responded. Trump said he was speaking "metaphorically."
"I’ve seen George Stephanopoulos interview. And he’s a tough interviewer. It’s the softest interview I’ve seen. CNN interview. They give these soft, you know, what’s your favorite ice cream? It’s a whole different deal. I don’t understand why."
The strength of Welker’s approach is that she asked as many as half a dozen follow-ups on major topics, making more news. When she asked, for instance, whether he would actually deport 11 million illegal immigrants, as he’d said constantly on the campaign trail, he answered yes – which for some reason lots of news outlets led with. But a subsequent question got Trump to say he didn’t think the Dreamers should be expelled and would work it out with the Democrats.
As for Trump, he reminded me of the candidate I interviewed twice this year. He was sharp and serious, connecting on each pitch, fouling a few off. This was not the candidate talking about sharks at rallies.
With one significant misstep, he made the case that he was not seeking retribution – even backing off a campaign pledge that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden.
That misstep, when Trump couldn’t hold back, was in saying of the House Jan. 6 Committee members, including Liz Cheney: "For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail."
He did add the caveat that he would let his attorney general and FBI chief make that decision, but it allowed media outlets to lead with Trump wanting his political opponents behind bars. For what it’s worth, there’s no crime in lawmakers holding hearings, and this business about them withholding information seems like a real stretch.
Now back to the pardons. This mushrooming debate was obviously triggered by the president breaking his repeated promise with a sweeping, decade-long pardon of his son, a 54-year-old convicted criminal.
But then, as first reported by Politico, we learned that the Biden White House is debating whether to issue a whole bunch of preemptive pardons to people perceived to be potential targets of Trumpian retaliation.
But the inconvenient truth is that anyone accepting such a pardon would essentially admit to the appearance of being guilty. That’s why Sen.-elect Adam Schiff says he doesn’t want a pardon and won’t accept one.
But many of those potential recipients don’t even know they’re under consideration for sweeping pardons covering anything they may or may not have done.
It is a truly awful idea, and with Biden and Trump both agreeing that DOJ engages in unfair and selective prosecutions – which in the Republican’s case made his numbers go up – the stage is set for endless rounds of payback against each previous administration.
I remember first thinking about the unchecked power of presidential pardons when Bill Clinton delivered a last-minute one to ally and super-wealthy Marc Rich.
So it’s time to hear from Alexander Hamilton, who pushed it into the Constitution. Keep in mind that in that horse-and-buggy era, there were very few federal offenses because most law enforcement was done by the states.
In Federalist 74, published in 1788, Hamilton said a single person was better equipped than an unwieldy group, and such decisions should be broadly applied to help those in need.
"In seasons of insurrection or rebellion," the future Treasury secretary wrote, "there are often critical moments, when a welltimed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquillity of the commonwealth."
But another founding father, George Mason, opposed him, saying a president "may frequently pardon crimes which were advised by himself. It may happen, at some future day, that he will establish a monarchy, and destroy the republic. If he has the power of granting pardons before indictment, or conviction, may he not stop inquiry and prevent detection?"
An excellent argument, but Hamilton won out.
As Hamilton envisioned, George Washington, in 1794, granted clemency to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion to calm a fraught situation.
Something tells me that Biden, Trump and their allies aren’t poring over the Federalist papers. But it’s still an awful lot of sweeping power to place in the hands of one chief executive, for which the only remedy is impeachment.
