Bentz says he never asked colleague to pursue pardon for him

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.

They both participate in the Sportsmen’s Caucus in the House, their official websites show.

Bentz said he knew nothing of the letter until it became public on Thursday.

“I was made aware of it in the same manner as everyone else — when the media began talking about it,” he said.

Bentz, a former state legislator and an Ontario attorney specializing in water law, had been in office just a few days when Congress took the formal step of counting electoral votes in the presidential election. The counting was disrupted by rioters and more than 700 people have been charged with federal crimes since then.

Republicans joined in Trump’s effort to overturn the election results showing Joe Biden won.

Pennsylvania was a key to the strategy to deliver the election to Trump by disputing results in several states.

In a statement after his vote opposing the Pennsylvania numbers, Bentz explained he didn’t think the election process in that state passed Constitutional muster. He said he concluded that after he and his staff researched the matter. He was troubled that state officials, including the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, were allowing mail-in ballots to be counted.

He said that process “contributed to a widespread loss of faith by many Americans in the integrity of the 2020 election."