Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) questioned whether former Rep. Liz Cheney knew the FBI had confidential sources in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, suggesting it is “very strange” how she was rebuking anyone asking questions about them.

Lee was referencing the newly released report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, which confirmed that 26 FBI sources were in Washington for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The Utah senator contended this report confirmed “what a lot of us wondered for a long time” and that he and others had legitimate reasons to ask about government assets on Jan. 6 despite Cheney and others chiding them as “crazy” for asking these questions.

“But what I do know is this: It’s very strange that she would call people who were raising these questions nut jobs, nut cases, whatever it is that she wanted to say, when she herself, a member of this Jan. 6 investigative committee, had access to a lot of information,” Lee said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.

He added: “This begs the question: Did she know, in fact, that what Mr. Horowitz put out recently in the inspector general report? Did she know this already? If so, why was she up there, calling into question the sanity of anyone if even raising the question?”

Lee was also asked whether or not Cheney could receive a preemptive pardon from President Joe Biden, to which he stated, “I don’t know.” The senator addressed the possibility of Cheney destroying evidence on the Jan. 6 committee and explained how there was “a bunch of stuff missing” once Republicans took the House majority in 2023, making him question what role Cheney and other Jan. 6 committee members could have had.

On X, Cheney deemed Lee “a nutball conspiracy theorist” for his questioning over how many protesters at the Capitol riot were “feds.” In a new post on the same platform, Lee wrote that the new inspector general report “confirmed that I had good reasons to ask these questions” and that he was “ready to accept her apology” if she were to give one.

Liz Cheney called me a “nutball conspiracy theorist” for asking questions about FBI’s involvement on January 6th

The DOJ Inspector General’s report confirmed that I had good reasons to ask these questions, which Christopher Wray repeatedly dodged https://t.co/IQC10Saf1z

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee)

December 15, 2024

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Ahead of Biden leaving office, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has cautioned against granting preemptive pardons, warning these could set a precedent that “we don’t want to set.” He confirmed he had communicated these concerns to the Biden administration both publicly and privately.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), meanwhile, has called for Biden to consider these pardons “very seriously,” warning that Trump’s threats to jail Jan. 6 committee members are “what authoritarianism is all about.”