The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is willing to grant witnesses immunity, a member of the panel said over the weekend.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who was the lead manager in the second impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump, told CNN on Saturday the House Jan. 6 select committee has “seen remarkable cooperation across the board,” noting there have been “dozens and dozens of interviews” before he floated a deal sweetener to those still holding out.
“I’m not speaking in any particular case,” Raskin stressed after saying “absolutely” to the question of whether the committee is willing to grant immunity to anyone.
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“But as one member of the committee, I would say if someone says, ‘I think I might be incriminating myself under the Constitution, under the Fifth Amendment,’ we have a privilege against self-incrimination. So we would say, ‘You tell us everything you know and we will not use against you any of that information,'” he added.
Among those the select committee has subpoenaed are several close advisers to Trump as well as 11 others tied to the organization of the Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 rallies that led up to the Capitol riot. While it appears most are engaging with the panel, Trump ally Steve Bannon refused to comply with the subpoena he received, and the House voted last month to hold him in contempt of Congress. If the Justice Department prosecutes Bannon and he is convicted, he could face fines up to $100,000 and up to a year in prison.
Pressed on whether immunity has been granted already, Raskin demurred.
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“I don’t know whether or not that’s happened yet, but I have no problem with that. And I think that, look, we are not a prosecutorial committee. We are a committee that is charged with developing a report back to America, back to the Congress, and to the people of the United States about what happened and how we’re going to prevent this from happening in the future,” he said.
“So right now we’re turning over all information we have of criminal activity, but if someone comes forward and says, ‘I’ve got extremely relevant information, but I’m afraid that I may have committed a crime,’ then I would say they could enter into a conversation with our lawyers about use immunity,” Raskin added. “Congress has statutory power to grant what’s called ‘use’ immunity. We won’t use against you what you’re telling us if you tell us everything you know and you tell us the truth.”
