President-elect Trump says lawmakers leading the investigation into him over the Capitol Hill riots should be jailed.

“Everybody on that committee, frankly, should be in jail for what they did,” US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview on December 8, referring to the US House of Representatives’ Capitol Hill Riot Investigation Committee.

The committee, led by Representative Bennie G. Thompson, is made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. The committee previously concluded that Mr. Trump incited the mob that led to the riot on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.

Ms. Cheney was heavily criticized by Republicans for her participation in the investigative committee. She also lost the midterm elections and her seat in the Senate.

President-elect Trump on December 8 called Ms. Cheney’s actions “indefensible” and said that she was behind the entire operation of the investigative committee. The former Republican congresswoman on December 9 refuted Mr. Trump, accusing him of continuing to lie about the committee.

Mr. Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, November 6. Photo: AP

“The truth is that Mr. Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election to seize power. He mobilized an angry mob, brought them to the Capitol, let them attack the police, occupied the building, and disrupted the electoral vote count. He continued his assault on the rule of law and our republic by threatening to jail members of the commission investigating the riot,” Ms. Cheney said.

Former Rep. Kinzinger, a Republican who has been a fierce critic of Mr. Trump, also said he was not worried about the threat from the president-elect. The commission investigating the Capitol Hill riot was suspended when Republicans took control of the House in January 2023.

President-elect Trump will take office on January 20 next year. White House boss Biden is said to be considering a series of precautionary pardons for those at risk of prosecution after Trump takes office, including Ms. Cheney.