October 22, 2025 • 32 mins
In this episode of Now You Know with Knowa de Baraso, Congressman Bennie Thompson — and one of Mississippi’s most influential political leaders — sits down with Knowa for a conversation about America’s democracy, the legacy of January 6th, and what it means to lead with integrity in turbulent times.
From his one-block hometown of Bolton, Mississippi, Congressman Thompson reflects on his journey from city council to Congress, the moment he realized Donald Trump was “weaponizing” the National Guard, and the lessons he wants young voters to carry forward in 2025 and beyond.
Knowa and Congressman Thompson also dive into Mississippi’s racial history, DC statehood, ICE raids, and how misinformation continues to threaten truth and justice.
This episode is part history lesson, part real talk, and all heart — a conversation between generations about how to protect democracy, tell the truth, and still have faith in America.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now you Know and Know Dave Brosso is a production
of iHeartMedia and partnership with Recent Choice Media. Today we
spoke with Congressman Bennie Thompson about his role chairing the
January sixth Committee, what life is like in the state
of Mississippi, and his sides on the National Guard. Up
in Washington, DC, it's second home. If you're curious about
(00:22):
a leading congressman's perspective on these issues, we get onto it.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh, now you know how you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Noah, Uncle Benny, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm all right, brother. You're looking might as spiffy this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I appreciate that you too. Where are you?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm in Bolton, Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Really, I thought you were in your DC office.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
No, you see how much I think of you.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
What are you doing up in Bolton, Mississippi right now?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, I'm in my district office in my hometown of Bolton, Mississippi.
When I first started running for public office, I was
on the city council here. Then I became mayor, a
county supervisor, and now a member of Congress. But my
politics started right here in this little town of five
(01:16):
hundred people. And I never want to forget how it
started and the people who made it happen. So if
you want to see the congress person, my main office
is in this little small town, although I have bigger
offices in other places, but I hang out right here
(01:40):
where it all started.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So if people want to see their member of Congress,
they can just go to your district office, you know,
meet with them.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, that's right. I have seven offices because my district
is three hundred miles long and about two hundred miles wide,
so it requires quite a bit of logistical organizations. So
if you won't catch me, you have to come to
(02:08):
the one hundred block of downtown Bolton. Now I want
you to understand Bolton has one block, so you can't
miss us if you come to Bolton, because there's no
two hundred block of downtown Bolton.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, there you go. So, speaking of catching you, last
year at the DNC, I took a picture with a congressman,
and I believe I was under the impression because it
was it was My head was everywhere, and I did
it quick, and he had the congressional pen and you
and I thought that you were congressman another congressman from
(02:45):
the great state of Maryland and you commented it and
you were like, that's not me. Come catch me somewhere,
find me at the convention. And I want to ask you.
The last time I saw you was CBC Week last year,
and since I want to get your response to this.
This is a real thing. There are people on social
(03:06):
media who because I tweeted and I said at uncle
Benny Thompson, They're like, how's he in politics? They are
under the impression that you put me on the map
because I am related to you, And I want to
get your response to this, because now when you Google
me and you put in my name, I think the
eighth result is in my name than your name. They're
(03:28):
trying to find it. So what is your response to this?
This is outrageous?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, absolutely, since we've only met each other twice in
our lifetime. But the important thing is that a young
man like you can start a career just by meeting people.
It's obvious that you're not a bashful person and you
never meet a stranger, and that's good. But more importantly
(03:55):
I think is you are who you are because you
have the foundational direction to do it. So I'm excited
to be your uncle, and I'm privileged at you, my nephew.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That's right. I appreciate that, and I was certainly excited
when that conspiracy theory came around, and that is one
of my favorite conspiracy theories of me. So I'm very
thankful for that. The reason why a lot of people that,
let's say, not only in your home state, which is
very very red. We'll get into that. I want to
(04:32):
ask you about that. Your main thing in Congress, well
at least it was before Trump got in and you
have more to focus on, was the January sixth committee.
Tell me about your work on that committee thus far.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Well, thank you so much for that. Noah, I want
you to understand that everything the public saw on January sixth,
with their own as it really happened. A bunch of
people ca ain't the Washington at the invitation of former
President Donald Trump at that time, upset because he said
(05:09):
the election had been stolen, and him giving a speech
saying to those people, they are down there at the
Capitol now trying to take your rights away from you,
and we need to stop them. And so all those
folk went to the Capitol from all over the country.
Some had guns, some had knives, some had all kinds
(05:35):
of instruments that you don't take normally to a parade.
You know, when you go to a parade, you got
a banner saying, hey, you know my baby, that kind
of thing. You don't take knives, you don't take guns,
you don't take spears, you don't take smoke bombs, you
don't take any of that. So anyway, those folk came
(05:57):
on that January sixth to do just that, And so
what we tried to do in the beginning was put
a group together to look at why this happened. We
could not get the Republicans to cooperate. Although we got
it that bill passed out the Senate out of the House,
(06:20):
the Senate refused to take it up. So speak A.
Pelosi created a select committee to look at the reasons
January sixth occurred. And so for almost two years we
investigated everything. We interviewed witnesses, we took depositions, we did
(06:43):
everything looking at it, and ultimately we came to the
conclusion that this all came about because of Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
And you don't say, uncle Benny Thompson, you don't say.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Absolutely, we stand by that. And at this point fast forward,
they are now saying the Republican leadership, they gonna do
their own January sixth to try to refute what they're saying,
because you know, yesterday Donald Trump held this meeting talking
(07:17):
about Antifa was a domestic terrorist organization, and that what
you really saw on January sixth was Antifa dressed up
like Trump people. I said, give me a break. There's
no organization for Antifa. There have no leadership structure, they
don't have an office, they don't have anything. But anyway,
(07:41):
this is what we're dealing with right now is the
same president who made January sixth happen is now president again,
and he's trying to rewrite history as we see it
every day. So I'm not surprised he's doing. I'm appreciator
(08:02):
that President Biden gave the members of the January sixth
a pardon, because clearly we would have been a target.
He said he didn't like us, he didn't like our work,
and the same thing he doing to the former head
of the FBI right now, indicting him and those kinds
of things. He would do it, so I wouldn't put
(08:25):
anything above him.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Right, who was on that committee with you? What was
your position on.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
The CAMST I chaired the January sixth committee. I picked
Liz Cheney, a Republican, to be my vice chair. Adam
shift was on it, Adam kings was on it, Jamie Raskin.
We had a good group of folks from all over.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
The country, bipartisan also, oh.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Absolutely, and so they were so mad that Republicans agreed
to serve. As you know, they ran someone against Liz Chaining.
Unfortunately she was defeated, and Adam Kingsinger decided not to
run because the pressure was so great on them to
(09:12):
just look at the facts. And so we held nine hearings,
and what we said in those hearings is whether or
not things occurred. The first hearing, as you know, we
occurred from or those people who defended the capital on
that day, the Capitol police persons, the DC law enforcement agencies,
(09:36):
and those officers came and testified before the committee. Two
of them out on disability from the actions of January sixth.
So they put their lives on the line to defend
not just members of Congress, but we had visitors in
the Capitol, we had employees in the Capitol. You know,
(09:59):
people were going about there normal day until former President
Trump at that time seek those what I call crazies
on the United States Capital. And the reason I say that,
you know, we are a democracy, and in a democracy
we sell a lot of differences at the ballot box.
(10:19):
We don't sell a lot of differences like gangsters. You
don't have to break in a room a building because
your candidate lost. Normally, you go to court and you
sell your differences at court. But what I saw on
that day was citizens acting even worse than a third
(10:40):
world country. How they sell that differences And I never
thought in my lifetime that I would see it, but
obviously we did.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
We got to hit a quick break. So don't go
anywhere you're listening to now, you know, so you're basically saying,
y'all should have duke it out of the ballot box.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Absolutely, you don't get to be number one in the
world as a country being uncivilized. You set a good example.
Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, independent, or whatever. You have
a right to run and if you think your rights
have been breached, then you go to court, get a
(11:28):
judge in or a jury to help you decide whether
your position is accurate or not. They didn't do that,
and so that's what we had, and then we had
something called, you know, you certify elections, and we had
people pretending they were the people who certified the election,
(11:52):
not the other folks. So we had this whole big
conspiracy put together to try to keep Donald Trump. And
as president, I'm glad it didn't work because we're a
better country than this. And you know, the last time
we had somebody attacked the United States capital was in
(12:12):
eighteen twelve, and after that, you know, we've been pretty good.
We've gone through a civil war, we've gone through a
lot of things, but we never had citizens of this
country attack the capital. But as important is normally when
(12:34):
your state and local resources are overrun, you had a
federal resources. So we had a National Guard division about
ten minutes away from the capital, and because the Defense
Department was intimidated by President Trump, they were over three
(13:00):
hours coming and everybody around the world was looking at
what was happening at that moment. But it took three
hours for the National Guard to get the ok to come.
And again, we're a better country than that. And so
now I fast forward and that same president is now
(13:24):
seeking the National Guard on cities that he doesn't like,
even when the mayors and all the governors have not
asked him to come. So he's now weaponizing that same
National Guard to further his own political program.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Let me ask you this as the former chair, as
I presume the committee is dismissed, right right, yeah, okay,
as the former chairs of the Januarycist Committee, do you
believe that, hypothetically, if the Democrats were to win in
twenty twenty eight, this could happen again.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Let me say I would hope not. But every day
that hope is waning because I hear this president saying
things that I never expected a president to go. Now
he's now seek in the Justice Department on people that
(14:28):
he doesn't like. That's not the standard in America. You
had to commit a crime. So he's telling them find
a crime. Do this. As I said, the former head
of the FBI, who he fired, he didn't like how
he was talking about him. Now he fired a lawyer,
(14:50):
brought in a lawyer who's never tried a criminal case
to be there in the court. So I look forward
to seeing what happens. But every day it's not about
the rule of law, it's not about any guide post.
It's the Gospel. According to Donald Trump, and that's not
a law, and so what we'll have. The reason I'm
(15:14):
not able to give you a real definitive answer on this.
It's all about what he wants, it's not about the law.
And as a young man who has a budding career,
you know, you have to have standards. You have to
stand for something. You can't wake up in the morning
(15:38):
and say, well, I think i'll make somebody mad or
I'll get somebody locked up because they said something three
years ago I didn't like. That's not who we are.
But that's what it's come to, and that's why I'm concerned.
I hear friends of mine who work for the film
(16:00):
old government who are now on furlough and being told, now,
if you're working, I don't think we need to pay it.
So you know, that's just too much uncertainty that goes
with this president. And nobody likes a.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Bullet so you'd call him unpredictable.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Oh and I'm being kind in that respect because look,
I'm a grandfather. Fact somebody, my grandson is older than you.
But I can't imagine sitting with my grandson watching the
nudes and watching our president and seeing Thomas be quiet
(16:43):
that's the president of the United States. Home one day
you can grow up and be just like him. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I want my.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
President be somebody that I respect, somebody who stands for
the rule of law, and somebody who talks about the
greatness of this country and not about the negative things
of this country. And so until this president, even the
ones that I didn't vote for, I still cared significant
(17:13):
respect for them and the office they held. And I
think what we have now is somebody who's lost a
lot of respect from a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Let me ask you this as the like we said,
as the former chair of the j six Committee, I'm
going to name a few individuals, maybe five, who had
involvement in some way in January sixth, and the first
word that comes to your mind tell me, all right,
Pamela Hamphill. Yes, what do you think, Pamela Hamphill. First
(17:45):
word that comes to your.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Mind, Uh, you know was an employee, worked in administration.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So pam hamp Hill is actually a January sixer who
apologized and supported Kamala Harrison very very much fought with
Democrats to win the twenty twenty four election. I brought
you actually to her Twitter space Pamela Hampel, she's a
January sixer who apologized and was very very apologetic about
(18:12):
her actions on January sixth and supported Democrats.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Well, look, I think people who are misinformed, that's never
a time that you can't apologize. And if she saw
the errors of her ways, I think that's good. I
think my understanding is that there are several people who've
(18:39):
done that. But it's clear that if you break the law,
sometimes you have to pay the price. But at best,
if you understand what you did was wrong, at a minimum,
you can at least acknowledge the eras of your ways.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Another one first word that comes to your head Donald
Trump in terms of January.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Sixth, he was the instigator of what happened on January sixth.
If you remember one of his tweets, he invited people
to come to Washington, and at the end of that
tweet he said, it's gonna be wild. Now, how why
(19:22):
would you invite me to come to Washington for an
event and then at the end of it say it's
gonna be wild. Well, obviously he had a little more
going for himself than people, So people came with all
kinds of expressions. Some brought bad spray with him. Now,
(19:45):
why would you bring bath spray to a parade or
any kind of organized activity unless you had mischief in mind?
Why would you bring gallows with a noose and have
it there. So I think that's a that's a challenge.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Breathe for a sec. Things are hitting up and we're
just getting started. This is now, you know, be right back.
Another one, Marjorie Taylor Green, who claims that she was
a victim of the January sixth attack because it was
her first day at work or something like that.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, I think any member of Congress, or any person
who was in and around Capitol Hill life was in danger.
I had never seen that before. I didn't get out
of the building until three hours after it started because
the Capitol Police didn't feel safe to let members out
(20:49):
of the building. So here's someone who, as you know,
is an a vow Republican supporter of a lot of
things that occurred on January sixth. But I think too,
if she had been in the meet league, she would
have been hurt like others pets. Mike Pence obviously was
(21:15):
in the building, and as you know, he could not
get out of the Capital to the safety of the
Secret Service. He wanted to stay even though they wanted
him to go. So he was held in a secret
(21:38):
location in the Capitol, and he was talking to the
President and other people, saying, you have to call these
people off. And as you know, he never left. Although
we tried to get him to come and offer testimony
to our committee, he chose not to. But clearly he
(22:03):
was not happy with what was going on. And as
you know, because of how the law requires, he actually
had convened that day and he had to be escorted
to that secure location. Ashley Babbitt, unfortunately, she was in
(22:25):
the crowd and lost her life because she tried to
break into the assembilar area of the Congress and she
was shot by a member of security detail. That's unfortunate.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Whose security detail was it, I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Well, he was part of it, the security for it
for the Congress. It's unfortunate, But that person was doing
his job, which is to protect those people who worked there.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
That's right. So if anyone were to breach into an
area that area is off limits, you're a danger to
the people in that area.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
That's correct. That's correct. And you know, as you know,
this administration is trying to unwrite that by obviously saying
that she's some kind of a hero for giving up
her life on that day, and they're trying to pay
money to the family for the loss of her life.
(23:33):
That's so unfortunate. But again, this is part of Donald
Trump's effort to rewrite what happened on January sixth.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
So yeah, on a more fun note, tell me a
little We got into your district a little earlier. I
have a question about Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
All right.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I spoke with Stacy Abrams, who was from Mississippi, about Mississippi. Briefly,
I do not I feel safe going to Mississippi. No
matter what I made it. I made it a life
mission to never go to Mississippi. I am afraid of Mississippi.
What is your message to black people who are scared
to go to Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Well, look, Mississippi has a history, and in so much
of that history, it's about how black people have been abused,
how black people have been killed basically because they were black,
they were not breaking the law, and so you have
(24:33):
that part of history. But the other side of the
history we have is we now have more black elected
officials than any other state. But Now, we only got
that way with the help of the fellow government. If
it had been left to Mississippi, we would still be
(24:57):
second class citizens. But we have a United States Congress
who basically said, no, you can't be separate and unequal,
and so over time, through litigation, we created that opportunity.
We've had the voting rights at other civil rights legislation,
we had public accommodation building, but they're still the History Bill.
(25:22):
Rarely does a day pass that somebody in the conversation
who's not here, like you know, will say, oh, how
is it down there? Now? What do you mean? Look,
people get killed anywhere in America. They're poor, housing in places,
(25:43):
health care is a challenge. So it just so happens
that so much of what we had to contend with,
we were the last part of the country to actually
acknowledge that, you know, we are the unit Nited States
of America. We fought a civil war over slavery, and
(26:05):
it was all about black people being treated differently, and
so now we still have to earn it. Although you know,
our Republican legislators and will tell you everything's fine, that's
not true. We still have children who die more often
(26:27):
in this state, black and white. We still have housing
challenges for people black and white. So it's economic as
much as is racial. But unless you create incentives to
level the playing field, you know, you always have the differences.
(26:48):
But now knowing, I'll invite you to come and I'll
provide you whatever protection.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You need, I appreciate that. I'm gonna let you know
about to your second home, Washington, d C. It's going
on back of Washington, d C with all the ice
raids and all of that. Where are you on that?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Well, obviously, look, there are two hundred Mississippi National guards
man from Mississippi in d C right now. That does
make sense. Normally you only dispatch the National Guard when
the elected officials request assistance. It's costing a million dollars
a day to keep the National Guard in the District
(27:29):
of Columbia. Can you imagine what a million dollars to
the DC budget a day could could mean. That means
that we could high mood police, or we could provide
the latest technology. We could provide the latest equipment necessary
to make DC safer. But also we can look at housing,
(27:53):
we can look at a lot of other things. So
whenever ice and the National Guard lead DC's back where
it was, but it's a waste of money. The only
way that the National Guard should have come was that
the invitation of the local elected officials, and they were
not invited.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
And a lot of what's going on in DC, it
it all comes down to what you just mentioned. Do
you believe I think I should say like this, Do
you believe that the local people up in DC are
doing all that they can do to protect the citizens
from the guards?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Well? Yeah, look, look let me tell you, DC historically
has been treated like a stepchild. And I used that
negatively derogatory. Yeah, yeah, because d C has as many
people as a lot of other states, but they don't
(28:52):
have voting members in the House or the Senate. And
so by that, I mean, you know, you're really not
legitimate in the sense of what the law requires. Because
our delegate, Congressman Eleanor Holmes Norton, she's elected, but there
are a lot of things she can't vote on because
(29:15):
she's not a state. That's kind of how DC is
treated differently than other states. But as important is DC
deserves statehood. D C deserves to be treated like every
other unit of government. But this president is trying to
(29:36):
marginalize even what they have by saying I would do
what I want because you are not a state. You
are you are a creature of the fellow government because
so much of the budget is actually appropriated from Congress.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
So do you do you support DC statehood?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Oh? Absolutely? You know that is That's a given, and
I think it's something that should never be on the
back Bunner. I think the Prongressional Black Caucus, the Progressive Caucus,
the Asian Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, all the caucuses have
historically supported d C statehood and we'll continue to do it.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
And as we wrap up here and here's how we
do it, I'm gonna get you with a political pop quest. Ready, yes, sir, So,
I'm gonna ask you something about your hometown. You're up
in DC a lot fighting for the rights if you're
not only your state but America. So are you up
on this one? What figure from Mississippi's sisters running for
(30:47):
the United States Senate? Is it one? Emit till or shoot?
I don't know any other people victims from Mississippi. I
just kind of spoiled it for you there. Well, how
do you feel about her running for the US Senate.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
That's fine that there are three African Americans running for
the United States Senate. The other one is Todd Pinkman,
the other is Scott Cologne, and the cousin of Emmitt
till is the other person. So look, in America, we
sell a lot of differences at the ballot box. The
voters will have their opportunity to vote just like anyone else.
(31:24):
It won't be handpicked in a smoke field room where
the public is locked out. Right.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Well, Congressman, I want to thank you so very much
for coming on. Now. You know we're gonna we're gonna
talk on We're going to continue to talk on social media.
And I wish i'd give you a hug right now
because you are the best. I'll see you soon.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Thank you very much. You a good nephew.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Thank you, thank you. I'll see you around.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
All right, take care too.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Well.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
That was that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
That was a great interview with the logic Congressman Betty Thompson. Now,
I've always been curious about the congressman's respective on his
role on the January sixth Committee. Not only that, but
how he feels as a black representative in Mississippi. You
can follow me at no de barsso k and O
WI d E d A r A s O so
thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday.
(32:15):
And now you know, now you know. And Noda Barroso
is a production of iHeartMedia and partnership of Recent Choice
Media
Now you Know and Know Dave Brosso is a production
of iHeartMedia and partnership with Recent Choice Media. Today we
spoke with Congressman Bennie Thompson about his role chairing the
January sixth Committee, what life is like in the state
of Mississippi, and his sides on the National Guard. Up
in Washington, DC, it's second home. If you're curious about
(00:22):
a leading congressman's perspective on these issues, we get onto it.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh, now you know how you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Noah, Uncle Benny, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm all right, brother. You're looking might as spiffy this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I appreciate that you too. Where are you?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm in Bolton, Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Really, I thought you were in your DC office.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
No, you see how much I think of you.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
What are you doing up in Bolton, Mississippi right now?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, I'm in my district office in my hometown of Bolton, Mississippi.
When I first started running for public office, I was
on the city council here. Then I became mayor, a
county supervisor, and now a member of Congress. But my
politics started right here in this little town of five
(01:16):
hundred people. And I never want to forget how it
started and the people who made it happen. So if
you want to see the congress person, my main office
is in this little small town, although I have bigger
offices in other places, but I hang out right here
(01:40):
where it all started.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So if people want to see their member of Congress,
they can just go to your district office, you know,
meet with them.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, that's right. I have seven offices because my district
is three hundred miles long and about two hundred miles wide,
so it requires quite a bit of logistical organizations. So
if you won't catch me, you have to come to
(02:08):
the one hundred block of downtown Bolton. Now I want
you to understand Bolton has one block, so you can't
miss us if you come to Bolton, because there's no
two hundred block of downtown Bolton.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, there you go. So, speaking of catching you, last
year at the DNC, I took a picture with a congressman,
and I believe I was under the impression because it
was it was My head was everywhere, and I did
it quick, and he had the congressional pen and you
and I thought that you were congressman another congressman from
(02:45):
the great state of Maryland and you commented it and
you were like, that's not me. Come catch me somewhere,
find me at the convention. And I want to ask you.
The last time I saw you was CBC Week last year,
and since I want to get your response to this.
This is a real thing. There are people on social
(03:06):
media who because I tweeted and I said at uncle
Benny Thompson, They're like, how's he in politics? They are
under the impression that you put me on the map
because I am related to you, And I want to
get your response to this, because now when you Google
me and you put in my name, I think the
eighth result is in my name than your name. They're
(03:28):
trying to find it. So what is your response to this?
This is outrageous?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, absolutely, since we've only met each other twice in
our lifetime. But the important thing is that a young
man like you can start a career just by meeting people.
It's obvious that you're not a bashful person and you
never meet a stranger, and that's good. But more importantly
(03:55):
I think is you are who you are because you
have the foundational direction to do it. So I'm excited
to be your uncle, and I'm privileged at you, my nephew.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That's right. I appreciate that, and I was certainly excited
when that conspiracy theory came around, and that is one
of my favorite conspiracy theories of me. So I'm very
thankful for that. The reason why a lot of people that,
let's say, not only in your home state, which is
very very red. We'll get into that. I want to
(04:32):
ask you about that. Your main thing in Congress, well
at least it was before Trump got in and you
have more to focus on, was the January sixth committee.
Tell me about your work on that committee thus far.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Well, thank you so much for that. Noah, I want
you to understand that everything the public saw on January sixth,
with their own as it really happened. A bunch of
people ca ain't the Washington at the invitation of former
President Donald Trump at that time, upset because he said
(05:09):
the election had been stolen, and him giving a speech
saying to those people, they are down there at the
Capitol now trying to take your rights away from you,
and we need to stop them. And so all those
folk went to the Capitol from all over the country.
Some had guns, some had knives, some had all kinds
(05:35):
of instruments that you don't take normally to a parade.
You know, when you go to a parade, you got
a banner saying, hey, you know my baby, that kind
of thing. You don't take knives, you don't take guns,
you don't take spears, you don't take smoke bombs, you
don't take any of that. So anyway, those folk came
(05:57):
on that January sixth to do just that, And so
what we tried to do in the beginning was put
a group together to look at why this happened. We
could not get the Republicans to cooperate. Although we got
it that bill passed out the Senate out of the House,
(06:20):
the Senate refused to take it up. So speak A.
Pelosi created a select committee to look at the reasons
January sixth occurred. And so for almost two years we
investigated everything. We interviewed witnesses, we took depositions, we did
(06:43):
everything looking at it, and ultimately we came to the
conclusion that this all came about because of Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
And you don't say, uncle Benny Thompson, you don't say.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Absolutely, we stand by that. And at this point fast forward,
they are now saying the Republican leadership, they gonna do
their own January sixth to try to refute what they're saying,
because you know, yesterday Donald Trump held this meeting talking
(07:17):
about Antifa was a domestic terrorist organization, and that what
you really saw on January sixth was Antifa dressed up
like Trump people. I said, give me a break. There's
no organization for Antifa. There have no leadership structure, they
don't have an office, they don't have anything. But anyway,
(07:41):
this is what we're dealing with right now is the
same president who made January sixth happen is now president again,
and he's trying to rewrite history as we see it
every day. So I'm not surprised he's doing. I'm appreciator
(08:02):
that President Biden gave the members of the January sixth
a pardon, because clearly we would have been a target.
He said he didn't like us, he didn't like our work,
and the same thing he doing to the former head
of the FBI right now, indicting him and those kinds
of things. He would do it, so I wouldn't put
(08:25):
anything above him.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Right, who was on that committee with you? What was
your position on.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
The CAMST I chaired the January sixth committee. I picked
Liz Cheney, a Republican, to be my vice chair. Adam
shift was on it, Adam kings was on it, Jamie Raskin.
We had a good group of folks from all over.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
The country, bipartisan also, oh.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Absolutely, and so they were so mad that Republicans agreed
to serve. As you know, they ran someone against Liz Chaining.
Unfortunately she was defeated, and Adam Kingsinger decided not to
run because the pressure was so great on them to
(09:12):
just look at the facts. And so we held nine hearings,
and what we said in those hearings is whether or
not things occurred. The first hearing, as you know, we
occurred from or those people who defended the capital on
that day, the Capitol police persons, the DC law enforcement agencies,
(09:36):
and those officers came and testified before the committee. Two
of them out on disability from the actions of January sixth.
So they put their lives on the line to defend
not just members of Congress, but we had visitors in
the Capitol, we had employees in the Capitol. You know,
(09:59):
people were going about there normal day until former President
Trump at that time seek those what I call crazies
on the United States Capital. And the reason I say that,
you know, we are a democracy, and in a democracy
we sell a lot of differences at the ballot box.
(10:19):
We don't sell a lot of differences like gangsters. You
don't have to break in a room a building because
your candidate lost. Normally, you go to court and you
sell your differences at court. But what I saw on
that day was citizens acting even worse than a third
(10:40):
world country. How they sell that differences And I never
thought in my lifetime that I would see it, but
obviously we did.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
We got to hit a quick break. So don't go
anywhere you're listening to now, you know, so you're basically saying,
y'all should have duke it out of the ballot box.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Absolutely, you don't get to be number one in the
world as a country being uncivilized. You set a good example.
Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, independent, or whatever. You have
a right to run and if you think your rights
have been breached, then you go to court, get a
(11:28):
judge in or a jury to help you decide whether
your position is accurate or not. They didn't do that,
and so that's what we had, and then we had
something called, you know, you certify elections, and we had
people pretending they were the people who certified the election,
(11:52):
not the other folks. So we had this whole big
conspiracy put together to try to keep Donald Trump. And
as president, I'm glad it didn't work because we're a
better country than this. And you know, the last time
we had somebody attacked the United States capital was in
(12:12):
eighteen twelve, and after that, you know, we've been pretty good.
We've gone through a civil war, we've gone through a
lot of things, but we never had citizens of this
country attack the capital. But as important is normally when
(12:34):
your state and local resources are overrun, you had a
federal resources. So we had a National Guard division about
ten minutes away from the capital, and because the Defense
Department was intimidated by President Trump, they were over three
(13:00):
hours coming and everybody around the world was looking at
what was happening at that moment. But it took three
hours for the National Guard to get the ok to come.
And again, we're a better country than that. And so
now I fast forward and that same president is now
(13:24):
seeking the National Guard on cities that he doesn't like,
even when the mayors and all the governors have not
asked him to come. So he's now weaponizing that same
National Guard to further his own political program.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Let me ask you this as the former chair, as
I presume the committee is dismissed, right right, yeah, okay,
as the former chairs of the Januarycist Committee, do you
believe that, hypothetically, if the Democrats were to win in
twenty twenty eight, this could happen again.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Let me say I would hope not. But every day
that hope is waning because I hear this president saying
things that I never expected a president to go. Now
he's now seek in the Justice Department on people that
(14:28):
he doesn't like. That's not the standard in America. You
had to commit a crime. So he's telling them find
a crime. Do this. As I said, the former head
of the FBI, who he fired, he didn't like how
he was talking about him. Now he fired a lawyer,
(14:50):
brought in a lawyer who's never tried a criminal case
to be there in the court. So I look forward
to seeing what happens. But every day it's not about
the rule of law, it's not about any guide post.
It's the Gospel. According to Donald Trump, and that's not
a law, and so what we'll have. The reason I'm
(15:14):
not able to give you a real definitive answer on this.
It's all about what he wants, it's not about the law.
And as a young man who has a budding career,
you know, you have to have standards. You have to
stand for something. You can't wake up in the morning
(15:38):
and say, well, I think i'll make somebody mad or
I'll get somebody locked up because they said something three
years ago I didn't like. That's not who we are.
But that's what it's come to, and that's why I'm concerned.
I hear friends of mine who work for the film
(16:00):
old government who are now on furlough and being told, now,
if you're working, I don't think we need to pay it.
So you know, that's just too much uncertainty that goes
with this president. And nobody likes a.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Bullet so you'd call him unpredictable.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Oh and I'm being kind in that respect because look,
I'm a grandfather. Fact somebody, my grandson is older than you.
But I can't imagine sitting with my grandson watching the
nudes and watching our president and seeing Thomas be quiet
(16:43):
that's the president of the United States. Home one day
you can grow up and be just like him. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I want my.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
President be somebody that I respect, somebody who stands for
the rule of law, and somebody who talks about the
greatness of this country and not about the negative things
of this country. And so until this president, even the
ones that I didn't vote for, I still cared significant
(17:13):
respect for them and the office they held. And I
think what we have now is somebody who's lost a
lot of respect from a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Let me ask you this as the like we said,
as the former chair of the j six Committee, I'm
going to name a few individuals, maybe five, who had
involvement in some way in January sixth, and the first
word that comes to your mind tell me, all right,
Pamela Hamphill. Yes, what do you think, Pamela Hamphill. First
(17:45):
word that comes to your.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Mind, Uh, you know was an employee, worked in administration.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So pam hamp Hill is actually a January sixer who
apologized and supported Kamala Harrison very very much fought with
Democrats to win the twenty twenty four election. I brought
you actually to her Twitter space Pamela Hampel, she's a
January sixer who apologized and was very very apologetic about
(18:12):
her actions on January sixth and supported Democrats.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Well, look, I think people who are misinformed, that's never
a time that you can't apologize. And if she saw
the errors of her ways, I think that's good. I
think my understanding is that there are several people who've
(18:39):
done that. But it's clear that if you break the law,
sometimes you have to pay the price. But at best,
if you understand what you did was wrong, at a minimum,
you can at least acknowledge the eras of your ways.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Another one first word that comes to your head Donald
Trump in terms of January.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Sixth, he was the instigator of what happened on January sixth.
If you remember one of his tweets, he invited people
to come to Washington, and at the end of that
tweet he said, it's gonna be wild. Now, how why
(19:22):
would you invite me to come to Washington for an
event and then at the end of it say it's
gonna be wild. Well, obviously he had a little more
going for himself than people, So people came with all
kinds of expressions. Some brought bad spray with him. Now,
(19:45):
why would you bring bath spray to a parade or
any kind of organized activity unless you had mischief in mind?
Why would you bring gallows with a noose and have
it there. So I think that's a that's a challenge.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Breathe for a sec. Things are hitting up and we're
just getting started. This is now, you know, be right back.
Another one, Marjorie Taylor Green, who claims that she was
a victim of the January sixth attack because it was
her first day at work or something like that.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, I think any member of Congress, or any person
who was in and around Capitol Hill life was in danger.
I had never seen that before. I didn't get out
of the building until three hours after it started because
the Capitol Police didn't feel safe to let members out
(20:49):
of the building. So here's someone who, as you know,
is an a vow Republican supporter of a lot of
things that occurred on January sixth. But I think too,
if she had been in the meet league, she would
have been hurt like others pets. Mike Pence obviously was
(21:15):
in the building, and as you know, he could not
get out of the Capital to the safety of the
Secret Service. He wanted to stay even though they wanted
him to go. So he was held in a secret
(21:38):
location in the Capitol, and he was talking to the
President and other people, saying, you have to call these
people off. And as you know, he never left. Although
we tried to get him to come and offer testimony
to our committee, he chose not to. But clearly he
(22:03):
was not happy with what was going on. And as
you know, because of how the law requires, he actually
had convened that day and he had to be escorted
to that secure location. Ashley Babbitt, unfortunately, she was in
(22:25):
the crowd and lost her life because she tried to
break into the assembilar area of the Congress and she
was shot by a member of security detail. That's unfortunate.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Whose security detail was it, I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Well, he was part of it, the security for it
for the Congress. It's unfortunate, But that person was doing
his job, which is to protect those people who worked there.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
That's right. So if anyone were to breach into an
area that area is off limits, you're a danger to
the people in that area.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
That's correct. That's correct. And you know, as you know,
this administration is trying to unwrite that by obviously saying
that she's some kind of a hero for giving up
her life on that day, and they're trying to pay
money to the family for the loss of her life.
(23:33):
That's so unfortunate. But again, this is part of Donald
Trump's effort to rewrite what happened on January sixth.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
So yeah, on a more fun note, tell me a
little We got into your district a little earlier. I
have a question about Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
All right.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I spoke with Stacy Abrams, who was from Mississippi, about Mississippi. Briefly,
I do not I feel safe going to Mississippi. No
matter what I made it. I made it a life
mission to never go to Mississippi. I am afraid of Mississippi.
What is your message to black people who are scared
to go to Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Well, look, Mississippi has a history, and in so much
of that history, it's about how black people have been abused,
how black people have been killed basically because they were black,
they were not breaking the law, and so you have
(24:33):
that part of history. But the other side of the
history we have is we now have more black elected
officials than any other state. But Now, we only got
that way with the help of the fellow government. If
it had been left to Mississippi, we would still be
(24:57):
second class citizens. But we have a United States Congress
who basically said, no, you can't be separate and unequal,
and so over time, through litigation, we created that opportunity.
We've had the voting rights at other civil rights legislation,
we had public accommodation building, but they're still the History Bill.
(25:22):
Rarely does a day pass that somebody in the conversation
who's not here, like you know, will say, oh, how
is it down there? Now? What do you mean? Look,
people get killed anywhere in America. They're poor, housing in places,
(25:43):
health care is a challenge. So it just so happens
that so much of what we had to contend with,
we were the last part of the country to actually
acknowledge that, you know, we are the unit Nited States
of America. We fought a civil war over slavery, and
(26:05):
it was all about black people being treated differently, and
so now we still have to earn it. Although you know,
our Republican legislators and will tell you everything's fine, that's
not true. We still have children who die more often
(26:27):
in this state, black and white. We still have housing
challenges for people black and white. So it's economic as
much as is racial. But unless you create incentives to
level the playing field, you know, you always have the differences.
(26:48):
But now knowing, I'll invite you to come and I'll
provide you whatever protection.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You need, I appreciate that. I'm gonna let you know
about to your second home, Washington, d C. It's going
on back of Washington, d C with all the ice
raids and all of that. Where are you on that?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Well, obviously, look, there are two hundred Mississippi National guards
man from Mississippi in d C right now. That does
make sense. Normally you only dispatch the National Guard when
the elected officials request assistance. It's costing a million dollars
a day to keep the National Guard in the District
(27:29):
of Columbia. Can you imagine what a million dollars to
the DC budget a day could could mean. That means
that we could high mood police, or we could provide
the latest technology. We could provide the latest equipment necessary
to make DC safer. But also we can look at housing,
(27:53):
we can look at a lot of other things. So
whenever ice and the National Guard lead DC's back where
it was, but it's a waste of money. The only
way that the National Guard should have come was that
the invitation of the local elected officials, and they were
not invited.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
And a lot of what's going on in DC, it
it all comes down to what you just mentioned. Do
you believe I think I should say like this, Do
you believe that the local people up in DC are
doing all that they can do to protect the citizens
from the guards?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Well? Yeah, look, look let me tell you, DC historically
has been treated like a stepchild. And I used that
negatively derogatory. Yeah, yeah, because d C has as many
people as a lot of other states, but they don't
(28:52):
have voting members in the House or the Senate. And
so by that, I mean, you know, you're really not
legitimate in the sense of what the law requires. Because
our delegate, Congressman Eleanor Holmes Norton, she's elected, but there
are a lot of things she can't vote on because
(29:15):
she's not a state. That's kind of how DC is
treated differently than other states. But as important is DC
deserves statehood. D C deserves to be treated like every
other unit of government. But this president is trying to
(29:36):
marginalize even what they have by saying I would do
what I want because you are not a state. You
are you are a creature of the fellow government because
so much of the budget is actually appropriated from Congress.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
So do you do you support DC statehood?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Oh? Absolutely? You know that is That's a given, and
I think it's something that should never be on the
back Bunner. I think the Prongressional Black Caucus, the Progressive Caucus,
the Asian Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, all the caucuses have
historically supported d C statehood and we'll continue to do it.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
And as we wrap up here and here's how we
do it, I'm gonna get you with a political pop quest. Ready, yes, sir, So,
I'm gonna ask you something about your hometown. You're up
in DC a lot fighting for the rights if you're
not only your state but America. So are you up
on this one? What figure from Mississippi's sisters running for
(30:47):
the United States Senate? Is it one? Emit till or shoot?
I don't know any other people victims from Mississippi. I
just kind of spoiled it for you there. Well, how
do you feel about her running for the US Senate.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
That's fine that there are three African Americans running for
the United States Senate. The other one is Todd Pinkman,
the other is Scott Cologne, and the cousin of Emmitt
till is the other person. So look, in America, we
sell a lot of differences at the ballot box. The
voters will have their opportunity to vote just like anyone else.
(31:24):
It won't be handpicked in a smoke field room where
the public is locked out. Right.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Well, Congressman, I want to thank you so very much
for coming on. Now. You know we're gonna we're gonna
talk on We're going to continue to talk on social media.
And I wish i'd give you a hug right now
because you are the best. I'll see you soon.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Thank you very much. You a good nephew.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Thank you, thank you. I'll see you around.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
All right, take care too.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Well.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
That was that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
That was a great interview with the logic Congressman Betty Thompson. Now,
I've always been curious about the congressman's respective on his
role on the January sixth Committee. Not only that, but
how he feels as a black representative in Mississippi. You
can follow me at no de barsso k and O
WI d E d A r A s O so
thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday.
(32:15):
And now you know, now you know. And Noda Barroso
is a production of iHeartMedia and partnership of Recent Choice
Media
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