Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, where she spoke about the Jan. 6 committee hearing earlier in the day. Testifying at the hearing was Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
In a hearing that shed light on what went on behind the scenes on the day of the insurrection, it was also revealed that Meadows, along with Rudy Giuliani, allegedly sought pardons from former President Donald Trump. Ocasio-Cortez believes simply asking for a pardon is a pretty strong implication of guilt.
“It was just stunning to understand and see the detail and the depth through which there was also just a consciousness of guilt. They knew that what they were doing was wrong,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “When at the very end of this hearing you hear that Mark Meadows, the chief of staff to the president himself, asked for a pardon because he knew that he was breaking the law in order to seize power and undermine democracy in the United States of America, it is stunning. It is absolutely stunning.”
You are admitting to a crimeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez
It came out last week that several House Republicans also allegedly asked Trump for a pardon, and Ocasio-Cortez believes they should face consequences.
“Those who specifically sought pardons for themselves should be expelled from the House of Representatives,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “If you are a duly elected official and, in seeking a pardon, as you mentioned, you are consciously admitting a — you are admitting to committing a crime.”
She later added, “That’s just the bare minimum. I do believe that many of these individuals need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in order to establish and to prove to ourselves and to the world that there is rule of law in the United States of America.”
One of those alleged to have asked for a pardon is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who once confronted Ocasio-Cortez and accused her of backing terrorists. Speaking about what it’s been like to see colleagues she’s been working with being implicated in the Jan. 6 investigation, Ocasio-Cortez took a not-so-veiled shot at some Republican members of Congress.
“To work with people over the last year, to see them, to have to have them sometimes confront you, knowing that they did what they did has been quite surreal,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Especially when they’re not very intelligent.”
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.
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