Lawmakers who served on the House Select Committee that investigated the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack are taking steps to prepare for Donald Trump to deploy the government to go after them if he's elected in November.
"In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice," Trump promised in March. "And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution."
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“Do you regret not locking [Clinton] up? And if you’re president again, will you lock people up?” Glenn Beck asked Trump in Aug. 2023.
“The answer is you have no choice, because they’re doing it to us," Trump claimed.
Jan. 6 committee members are taking the ex-president at his word, The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
One of those officials who is concerned is California Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren.
“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” Lofgren told the Times. “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”
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She hasn't got a plan in place yet, but her colleague, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), is having “real-time conversations” with his staff about ensuring his security if Trump makes good on the threats. Schiff is running for U.S. Senate to replace the late Dianne Feinstein.
“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff told the LA Times. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”
When it comes to their Republican former committee member, former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Trump singled her out on March 17.
He claimed she, “Should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee!”
The same day, she replied, “Lying in all caps doesn’t make it true, Donald. You know you and your lawyers have long had the evidence.”
Trump also spent much of his time in court blaming President Joe Biden for his prosecutions, and promising revenge if elected.