Could Donald Trump face criminal charges based on the Jan. 6 committee recommendations?
The House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol attack presented their recommendations to the Justice Department in order to prosecute suspects for their roles in the assault.
Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson led the last hearing and shared their findings after the committee’s 18 months of investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021 assault.
Rep. Liz Cheney started the proceedings by explaining that millions of Americans had been misled by President Trump in his attempt to convince his followers that the elections had been stolen. She continued to outline Trump’s behavior in the days before, during and after the Jan. 6 uprising and explained how witnesses had given testimony to his attempt to change the election results.
Rep. Bennie Thompson continued to present evidence, which was shown in a video with scenes from the Jan. 6 riot and the protestors violent attempts to enter the Capitol Building. US Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards and DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone explained what they had experienced during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol Building.
House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson appeared in the video as well explaining what she had witnessed on Jan. 6. More specifically she explained that President Trump had done nothing to stop the violence at the Capitol despite watching the uprising on TV.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren presents the section entitled “The Big Lie”
This first part of the presentation outlined the effort made by Donald Trump to spread allegations that the election had been stolen, even before the election itself. She explained it wasn’t a spontaneous decision and a lot of planning had been involved.
Trump had called for the election counting to be stopped and then had even used money from his fundraising to influence witnesses. Despite friends and family telling him that there was no evidence regarding election fraud and asking him to allow a peaceful transition, he refused and continued with the lie.
Trump’s legal team lost 61 court cases in their attempts to overturn election results. When that failed he incited his followers to violence, according to Rep. Logren’s account.
Rep. Adam Schiff and the State pressure campaign
According to Rep. Schiff, “President Trump repeatedly attacked state and local officials and some election workers and officials were forced to leave their homes. Others were forced to leave their homes.”
Election workers, state and legislative officials were pressured by Donald Trump himself. According to Rep. Schiff, on Jan. 2, President Trump called an election official in Georgia in an attempt to find 11,000 votes. He performed a similar act with an official in Arizona.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger explains the “Department of Justice pressure campaign
Trump pressured officials of the Department of Justice to just say the election was a fraud, despite being told by the department that no evidence could be found.
Rep. Aguilar outlined the “Vice President Pence pressure campaign”
This attempt by Donald Trump to pressure the Vice President to accepting what is now known as the Eastman theory, which was a fabrication created to convince followers that the Vice President had the power to overturn the election results. Vice President Pence consisistently resisted and in an angry phone call on the morning of Jan. 6, President Trump called Pence a “whimp” and said he had made the wrong decision to run with him.
Trump went on to tell the crowd that Pence needed the courage to do what had to be done, which later translated into shouts to “hang Mike Pence” forcing the Vice President to find shelter and hide from the angry mob.
Last point of the meeting: 187 minutes: dereliction of duty
Rep. Murphy finished outlining the committee’s findings by explaining how the President did nothing to stop the violence during 187 minutes despite pleas from assistants, family members and even Fox News journalists to publicly ask his supporters to stand down. “He lit the flame and poured gasoline on the fire and today he still continues to fan the flames,” Rep. Murphy said.
The referrals were laid out by Rep. Jamie Raskin
- Obstruction of an official proceeding. “corruptly...obstructs...influences or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so...”
- Conspiracy to defraud the United States “...conspire either to commit any offense against the United States or to defraud the United States…”
- Conspiracy to make a false statement “...in any matter within the jurisdiction of the … Government of the United States… makes any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement…”
- “Incite,” “assist” or “aid or Comfort” an Insurrection “...incites,...assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection… or gives aid or comfort thereto…”
Rep. Raskin emphasized that President Trump is not the only one who should be investigated by the Department of Justice and emphasized that anyone guilty of a federal crime should never be able to hold a public office again and that the committee has evidence that President Trump made and attempt to disrupt the handing over of power and this evidence will be passed on to the Department of Justice to aid in their criminal investigation.