The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol voted unanimously Monday to refer former President Donald Trump to the U.S. Department of Justice for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
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The committee’s seven Democrats and two Republicans on Monday voted 9-0 during its final meeting to adopt its report, expected to be released in full in the coming days, as well as to refer Trump to the DOJ. The lawmakers on the panel also unanimously approved referring four additional members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee for refusing to respond to subpoenas, including the chamber’s top Republican, Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, said during the hearing that over the length of the 18 month investigation, the committee had developed “significant evidence” that Trump intended to forcefully disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.
“We understand the gravity of each and every referral we are making today, just as we understand the magnitude of the crime against democracy that we describe in our report,” Raskin stated. “But we have gone where the facts and the law lead us, and inescapably, they lead us here.”
The committee criminally referred Trump under four statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and inciting, assisting, aiding or comforting an insurrection.
Specifically, the panel highlighted Trump’s efforts to convince Vice President Mike Pence to block certification in Congress despite Pence repeatedly saying he did not have the power to do so. It also detailed the effort to send a fake set of electors to Congress, and cited the fact that Trump had been repeatedly told by members of his camp that there had been no evidence of widespread election fraud.
The committee’s summary argued that Trump was “directly responsible” for summoning his supporters to D.C., calling on them to march to the Capitol and encouraging them via tweets that “exacerbated that violence.” The summary also addresses evidence “suggesting specific efforts to obstruct” the investigation.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the committee, said he hoped report could help provide “accountability” for the attack on the Capitol. Thompson said their investigation would show evidence that “points to further action beyond the power of this committee or the Congress to help ensure accountability under law.”
“We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a roadmap to justice, and that the agencies and institutions responsible for ensuring justice under the law will use the information we’ve provided to aid in their work,” Thompson claimed.
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Source: https://www.law360.com/articles/1559526/house-jan-6-panel-votes-to-refer-trump-to-doj
