Jan. 6 panel wraps work with 'roadmap to justice' for Trump
The House Jan. 6 committee urged the Justice Department on Monday to bring criminal charges against Donald Trump for the violent 2021 Capitol insurrection, calling for accountability for the former president and 맥스카지노a time of reflection and reckoning.맥스카지노
As they cap one of the most exhaustive and aggressive congressional probes in memory, the panel맥스카지노s seven Democrats and two Republicans are recommending criminal charges against Trump and associates who helped him launch a multifaceted to try to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Video above: Jan. 6 Committee unveils criminal referrals against Donald Trump, others
At a final meeting Monday, the committee alleged violations of four criminal statutes by Trump, in both the run-up to the riot and during the insurrection itself, as it recommended the former president for prosecution to the Justice Department. Among the charges they recommend for prosecution is aiding an insurrection 맥스카지노 an effort to hold him directly accountable for his supporters who stormed the Capitol that day.
The committee also voted to refer conservative lawyer John Eastman, who devised dubious legal maneuvers aimed at keeping Trump in power, for prosecution on two of the same statutes as Trump: conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstructing an official proceeding.
While a criminal referral is mostly symbolic, with the Justice Department ultimately deciding whether to prosecute Trump or others, it is a decisive end to a probe that had an almost singular focus from the start.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Trump 맥스카지노broke the faith맥스카지노 that people have when they cast ballots in a democracy and that the criminal referrals could provide a 맥스카지노roadmap to justice" by using the committee's work.
맥스카지노I believe nearly two years later, this is still a time of reflection and reckoning,맥스카지노 Thompson said. 맥스카지노If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again.맥스카지노
Read the executive summary of the Jan. 6 committee's final report .
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel맥스카지노s Republican vice chairwoman, said in opening remarks that every president in American history has defended the orderly transfer of power, "except one."
The committee also voted 9-0 to approve its final report, which will include findings, interview transcripts and legislative recommendations. The report is expected to be released in full Wednesday.
The report맥스카지노s 154-page summary, made public as the hearing ended, found that Trump engaged in a 맥스카지노multi-part conspiracy맥스카지노 to overturn the election. While the majority of the report맥스카지노s main findings are not new, it altogether represents one of the most damning portraits of an American president in recent history, laying out in great detail Trump맥스카지노s broad effort to overturn his own defeat and what the lawmakers say is his direct responsibility for the insurrection of his supporters.
, which will dissolve on Jan. 3 with the new Republican-led House, has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, held 10 well-watched public hearings and collected more than a million documents since it launched in July 2021. As it has gathered the massive trove of evidence, the members have become emboldened in declaring that Trump, a Republican, is to blame for the violent attack on the Capitol by his supporters almost two years ago.
After beating their way past police, injuring many of them, the Jan. 6 rioters and interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden맥스카지노s presidential election win, echoing about widespread and sending lawmakers and others running for their lives.
The attack came after weeks of Trump맥스카지노s efforts to overturn his defeat 맥스카지노 a campaign that was extensively detailed by the committee in its multiple public hearings, and laid out again by lawmakers on the panel on Monday. Many of Trump맥스카지노s former aides testified about his unprecedented pressure on states, on federal officials and on Vice President Mike Pence to find a way to thwart the popular will. The committee has also described in great detail how Trump riled up the crowd at a rally that morning and then did little to stop his supporters for several hours as he watched the violence unfold on television.
Video below: Jan . 6 Committee plays video recapping key moment in testimony
Warning: The above video may be graphic in nature. Viewer discretion is advised.
The panel aired some new evidence at the meeting, including a recent interview with longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks. Describing a conversation she had with Trump around that time, she said he told her that no one would care about his legacy if he lost the election.
Hicks told the committee that Trump told her, "The only thing that matters is winning."
Trump맥스카지노s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the former president slammed members of the committee Sunday as 맥스카지노thugs and scoundrels맥스카지노 as he has continued to falsely dispute his 2020 loss.
While a so-called criminal referral has no real legal standing, it is a forceful statement by the committee and adds to political pressure already on Attorney General Merrick Garland and special counsel , who is conducting into Jan. 6 and Trump맥스카지노s actions.
On the recommendation to charge Trump on aiding an insurrection, the committee said in the report's summary that the former president 맥스카지노was directly responsible for summoning what became a violent mob맥스카지노 and refused repeated entreaties from his aides to condemn the rioters or to encourage them to leave.
For obstructing an official proceeding, the committee cites Trump맥스카지노s relentless badgering of Pence and others to prevent the certification of the election results on Jan. 6. And his repeated lies about the election and efforts to undo the results open him up to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, the panel said.
The final charge recommended by the panel is conspiracy to make a false statement, citing the scheme by Trump and his allies to put forward slates of fake electors in battleground states won by President Joe Biden.
Among the other charges contemplated, but not approved, by the committee was seditious conspiracy, the same allegation Justice Department prosecutors have used to target a subset of rioters belonging to far-right groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
Thompson said after the hearing that the seditious conspiracy charge is 맥스카지노something that the committee didn맥스카지노t come to agreement on.맥스카지노
The panel was formed in the summer of 2021 after Senate Republicans blocked the formation of what would have been a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the insurrection. When that effort failed, the Democratic-controlled House formed an investigative committee of its own.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California, a Trump ally, decided not to participate after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected some of his appointments. That left an opening for two anti-Trump Republicans in the House 맥스카지노 Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois 맥스카지노 to join seven Democrats, launching an unusually unified panel in the divided Congress.
McCarthy was one of four House Republicans who ignored congressional subpoenas from the panel and were referred to the House Ethics Committee on Monday for their non-compliance.
The Republican leader, who is hoping to become speaker of the House when his party takes the majority in January, has acknowledged he spoke with Trump on Jan. 6. The committee also referred Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona, all of whom were in touch with Trump or the White House in the weeks leading up to the attack.
While the committee맥스카지노s mission was to take a comprehensive accounting of the insurrection and educate the public about what happened, they've also aimed their work at an audience of one: the attorney general. Lawmakers on the panel have openly pressured Garland to investigate Trump맥스카지노s actions, and last month he appointed a special counsel, Smith, to oversee two probes related to Trump, including those related to the insurrection and the presence of classified documents at Trump's Florida estate.
The committee members said that full accountability can only be found in the criminal justice system.
맥스카지노No one should get a pass,맥스카지노 said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Jill Colvin and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.