Jan. 6 committee chair rips Trump 'election integrity' event with Johnson
Source: The Hill
04/12/24 9:36 AM ET
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) on Friday slammed former President Trump’s upcoming “election integrity” event with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Thompson, who chaired the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, 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 in federal elections. “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 do 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.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4589993-jan-6-panel-chair-rips-trump-election-integrity-event-johnson/
