Some members of Congress who led the investigation into former President Donald Trump's role in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot acknowledge that they have spoken to their families about their safety — and the risk of their arrest — if Trump wins a second term in November.
In a series of interviews with CBS News, House Democrats who helped lead the House Select Committee January 6 and some of the police witnesses who testified earlier predicted they would be the targets of retribution by a future Trump administration.
Trump raised the possibility of future arrests of some of the Jan. 6 committee participants in a March 18 social media post. Referring to the panel's vice chair, former Rep. Liz Cheney, Trump wrote: “She should go to jail along with the rest of the Select Committee!”
“My wife and I have had conversations about what life would be like if the worst happened,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who was one of seven Democrats on the Jan. 6 select committee. Speaking to CBS News near the House chamber between votes last week, Schiff said, “You can't avoid conversations about 'What if?' And I have to think about my own personal safety.”
Rep. Pete Aguilar, who chairs the House Democratic caucus and was a member of the Jan. 6 committee, told reporters last week that he takes Trump's prison threat seriously. But Aguilar, noting the Washington, D.C., prison's proximity to the U.S. Capitol, smiled and noted wryly, “My family has told me that they're going to come to D.C. either way, and they're going to visit me, no matter what . where I am.”
“One of the things I noticed during our committee work on Jan. 6 was that when Trump says something, he means it,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, another California Democrat who help lead the panel.
“I take that lesson to heart,” he told CBS News. “When he says several things, I think that's what he means he's going to do.”
She acknowledged that she has been harassed by some Trump supporters.
“He's going to weaponize the Justice Department … and he's going to use it to go after people like me,” former Washington DC police officer Michael Fanone told CBS News. Fanone declared at a public committee hearing in 2021 and has been an outspoken critic of Trump, accusing him of using authoritarian rhetoric.
“He's telling us exactly what he plans to do,” Fanone said.
Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer who also testified before the select committee, told CBS News: “Trump means what he says. Anyone who has testified against him, or spoken out publicly, should be worried.” Dunn, who is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for one US House seat in Maryland, said the threat of arrest “is a little scary to think about, but you have to keep doing the right thing.”
The Trump campaign did not directly respond to questions about whether Trump intends to pursue the Jan. 6 arrests of committee members.
“Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney and the corrupt Democrats on the January 6 committee have lied to the American public for years, denied key witnesses from testifying the truth, and covered up evidence that showed President Trump, or none of his supporters ever engaged in an alleged 'insurgency.' His entire narrative is a lie and America knows that Joe Biden is the real threat to democracy,” a Trump spokeswoman said. in a statement to CBS News.
Trump's March 18 social media post drew criticism from scholars who study the rhetoric and practices of authoritarian regimes.
“This kind of publication is not what you want to see from your political leaders in a healthy democracy,” said Erica Frantz, a political science professor at Michigan State University. Frantz, who specializes in authoritarian politics, told CBS News that calls by political leaders “to imprison their political opponents are red flags in terms of possible slides into authoritarianism.”
Frantz said when political figures talk about jailing some critics, it can have a chilling effect on others.
“It's meant to invoke fear among them and dissuade them from speaking out against Trump,” he said. “The more critics are silenced, the more leaders with authoritarian ambitions can get away with taking power.”
The select committee ran a high-profile investigation into Trump that included a series of nationally televised public hearings. The committee spoke to hundreds of witnesses, including Trump's top White House aides, as it reviewed his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The committee voted to refer criminal charges to the Justice Department by Trump and accused him of threatening the future of democracy and inciting the violent January 6 uprising at the Capitol.
The committee was disbanded at the end of 2022, after Republicans won control of the House. Two of its members lost their campaigns for re-election, including Cheney. Two more withdrew from the House.
Some committee members have reported being the target of threats and harassment from Trump supporters.
A top US House aide said a presidential candidate's threats to jail lawmakers for public speech and legislative work also run afoul of the speech and debate clause, which protects the independence of Congress.
Speaking to reporters last week, Aguilar said Trump's continued rhetoric increases the risk of harassment, threats and danger to public officials. Aguilar said, “Trump wants to act like those dictators he hosts at Mar-a-Lago. That's difficult rhetoric, and it's not something that any of us, any of the members of this dome take lightly.”
Scott MacFarlane
