Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) requested a presidential pardon “from the beginning of time up until today, for any and all things,” according to videotaped testimony from Eri Herschmann, a Trump White House attorney. Herschmann’s deposition was one of several aired on Thursday before the select House panel investigating the Capitol riot. In another attestation, Cassidy Hutchinson, an ex-aide to the White House chief of staff, said Gaetz had been seeking a pardon since “early December” 2020, though she was unsure why. He, along with Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), pushed for pardons to be given to Republican lawmakers who had been involved with a Dec. 21, 2020, meeting in which overturning the election was discussed. In a tweet posted after the hearing finished, Gaetz wrote: “The January 6 Committee is an unconstitutional political sideshow. It is rapidly losing the interest of the American people and now resorts to siccing federal law enforcement on political opponents.” In remarks at the end of Thursday’s hearing, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said, “The only reason you ask for a pardon is if you think you’ve committed a crime.”
