Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has lashed out at the January 6 select committee probing last year’s Capitol insurrection and accused it spreading “gossip and lies”.
On Thursday, the select committee hearing revealed representatives Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Louie Gohmert and Scott Perry were among Republican congressmen who asked former president Donald Trump to protect them from future prosecutions by granting them presidential pardons in the days immediately following the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January last year.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former special assistant to the president, was asked if Ms Greene contacted her about a pardon.
Ms Hutchinson replied: “No, she didn’t contact me about it.”
“I heard she had asked White House Counsel Office for a pardon,” she added.
Following the hearing, the Georgia representative took to Twitter to hit out at the committee and its proceedings.
“Saying ‘I heard’ means you don’t know,” the far-right congresswoman tweeted.
“Spreading gossip and lies is exactly what the January 6th Witch Hunt Committee is all about,” she added.
“You know who needs to be pardoned? Julian Assange and Edward Snowden,” she wrote in another tweet.
Last week, UK home secretary Priti Patel had announced she was allowing the WikiLeaks founder’s extradition to the US.
Thursday’s hearing focused on Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department to assist in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
The committee played video recordings of transcripts and depositions of White House officials who described the Republican members’s efforts to obtain clemency after Mr Trump’s scheme led to an attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
“All I know is if you’re innocent, you’re probably not gonna go out and seek a pardon,” said Illinois Republican representative Adam Kinzinger of his Republican colleagues who allegedly asked for pardons.
Mr Kinzinger is a select committee member and led Thursday’s hearing.
