By Les Zaitz
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz said Friday that he was unaware that a colleague had recommended a presidential pardon for his Jan. 6, 2021, vote to challenge the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania.
Bentz, Oregon’s lone Republican in Congress, was one of 138 representatives who objected to counting the Pennsylvania election results in the 2020 presidential race.
Witnesses told a Congressional investigating committee on Thursday, June 23, that a handful of U.S. representatives sought pardons from then-President Donald Trump.
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, five days after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol wrote to the White House because “President Trump asked me to.”
Brooks recommended Trump grant general pardons to “every Congressman and senator who voted to reject the electoral college vote submissions of Arizona and Pennsylvania.”
Brooks said he expected Democrats “with perhaps some liberal Republican help” are “going to abuse America’s judicial system by targeting numerous Republicans with sham charges.”
In response to written questions, Bentz said through a spokesman that he had never considered requesting a pardon and hadn’t researched the matter. He said he didn’t authorize Brooks to represent him in a pardon request.
“I have never even spoken to Rep. Brooks,” Bentz said.
For the full story, visit the Oregon Capital Chronicle website.
