Jan. 6 panel chair rips Trump ‘election integrity’ event with Johnson

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) on Friday slammed former President Trump’s upcoming “election integrity” event with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Thompson, chairman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, called the event a “sham,” in a statement distributed by the Biden administration.

The gathering, billed as a press conference to present legislation that would prevent noncitizens from voting, will be held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort Friday. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote.

“The sham event at Trump’s country club should remind the American people of a dangerous truth: Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and a danger to our Constitution,” Thompson’s statement said.

Foreign nationals are banned from voting in federal elections under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, but a few jurisdictions allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, such as municipal and school board elections.

Thompson said the 2020 election was among the most secure election in the country’s history, one where Trump lost to Biden by “over seven million votes – fair and square.”

Thompson criticized the former president, who said last month that one of his first acts if reelected would be to free the Jan. 6 rioters who are in prison, calling them “hostages.”

“In the past few days, Trump promised to pardon violent insurrectionists, saluted the criminals who attacked the brave law enforcement protecting the Capitol on January 6, and threatened that the election this November could be our last,” Thompson’s statement said.

The event Friday will give Johnson a chance to prove his close ties with Trump, and Trump’s connections to House Republican leadership, even as the two navigate divisive issues including the reauthorization of the country’s warrantless surveillance powers and additional aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Johnson announced in November that he would be releasing thousands of hours of footage from inside the Capitol during the riot. Undercutting Thompson’s work on the Jan. 6 committee, Johnson said it would provide the public, media, and criminal defendants the “ability to see for themselves what happened that day” instead of rely on the panel.

“Donald Trump and Mike Johnson don’t care about our election integrity – they care only about helping Trump’s campaign and revenge and retribution to regain power at all costs,” Thompson’s statement said. “The American people know this, and just like four years ago, they will not be fooled by Trump’s dangerous lies this November.”