Sanders tells Biden to consider preemptive pardons since Trump sounds like a ‘tin-pot dictator’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) urged President Biden to pardon lawmakers who investigated President-elect Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

“You know, when Trump talks about sending to jail people who were on that Jan. 6 committee, that sounds like being a tin-pot dictator,” Sanders said during a Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“So I would hope that we have an FBI and a Justice Department that protects the civil liberties of the American people and does its best to protect the American democracy,” he added.

Trump committed to looking at pardons for rioters within the first few hours of his presidency.

However, Sanders said Biden should issue preemptive pardons for the entire Jan. 6 committee.

“I think he might want to consider that very seriously,” he told host Kristen Welker. 

Sanders previewed Trump’s incoming administration as one levied toward revenge through “authoritarianism.”

“This is what authoritarianism is all about. It’s what dictatorship is all about,” he stated.

“You do not arrest elected officials who disagree with you.”

A Trump-Vance transition team spokesperson in a statement to The Hill denied any intent to pursue “political opponents” on legal charges.

“Unlike Joe Biden, President Trump will not weaponize the justice system against his political opponents,” Karoline Leavitt said.

Trump has largely criticized House Jan. 6 committee members, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) who strongly opposed him throughout the campaign. 

However, Cheney said the former president’s actions warranted a formal probe.

“He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave,” she said in a statement to The Hill. 

“This was the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history. Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”

Updated on Dec. 16 at 10:46 a.m. EST