WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) – A U.S. House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol urged federal prosecutors on Monday to charge Donald Trump with four felonies, including obstruction and sedition, for his role in triggering deadly riots.
The Democratic-led select committee’s request to the Justice Department — after more than 1,000 interviews with witnesses and the collection of hundreds of thousands of documents — marked the first time in history that Congress had referred a former president to criminal prosecution.
The request does not compel federal prosecutors to take action, but it comes as the special counsel oversees two other federal investigations into Trump, related to the Republican’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and the removal of classified White House files.
The committee asked the Justice Department to charge Trump with four possible crimes: obstructing the official process of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements and aiding or abetting sedition.
“Sedition is rebellion against the authority of the United States. It is a serious federal offense enshrined in the Constitution itself,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, a member of the Democratic Select Committee, when he announced the charges.
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment. A spokesman for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump gave a fiery speech to his supporters near the White House on the morning of January 6, publicly berating his Vice President Mike Pence for not agreeing with his plan to reject ballots cast in favor of Democrat Joe Biden. Trump then waited for hours to make a public statement as thousands of his supporters rampaged through the Capitol, attacking police and threatening to hang Pence.
Monday’s meeting was the last public meeting of the nine-member commission, which spent 18 months investigating an unprecedented attempt to prevent a peaceful transfer of power by thousands of Trump supporters inspired by his false claims that his 2020 election loss to Biden was the result of widespread fraud.
Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, chastised Trump for inviting the mob to the Capitol and criticized him for undermining faith in the democratic system by repeating false claims of fraud.
“If faith is broken, our democracy is broken. Donald Trump has broken that faith,” Thompson said.
ETHICS REFERRAL FOR HOUSE REPUBLICANS
The committee also said it referred four House Republicans, including Kevin McCarthy, the favorite to be the next speaker, to the House Ethics Committee for failing to comply with subpoenas during the investigation into the attack. On the same subject : Timeline: U.S.-China Relations.
The other three subpoenaed representatives were Scott Perry, Jim Jordan and Andy Biggs. Spokesmen for Jordan, Perry and Biggs dismissed the action as political stunts. McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Republicans who will take control of the House of Representatives on January 3 are unlikely to take action against members of their own leadership.
[1/7] Members of the US House Special Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol sit below a photo of former President Donald Trump on the phone with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as Capitol Hill Police Officer Harry Dunn, Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, MPD Officer Daniel Hodges and U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell attend the final meeting of the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Dec. 19, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Trump has already launched a campaign to seek the Republican nomination to run for the White House again in 2024.
Five people, including a police officer, were killed during or shortly after the incident, and more than 140 officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.
“One of the most disgraceful findings of this committee was that President Trump was sitting in the dining room outside the Oval Office watching violent riots in the Capitol on television,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the committee and his deputy. the president.
MULTIPLE INVESTIGATIONS
A summary of the committee’s report also said the panel believed there were grounds to recommend criminal charges against some others close to Trump, including attorney John Eastman. See the article : Sports Council continues task of taking reins, inventory project.
It named other Trump associates, including former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clarke, former White House chief of staff and House member Mark Meadows and two lawyers — Kenneth Chesebra and Rudy Giuliani — as participants in the conspiracies the panel linked to Trump.
Eastman’s attorney responded with a statement criticizing the board as biased. Representatives for the others did not immediately respond to requests for comment or declined to comment.
A jury has already found members of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia guilty of sedition for their role in the attack.
Trump has been facing a series of legal problems since leaving office on January 20, 2021. His real estate company was convicted on December 6 of running a 15-year criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities.
Trump has dismissed many of the investigations as politically motivated. He said on Monday that any prosecution would mean he has been wrongfully impeached twice after being impeached for a second time last year but then acquitted by the Senate.
“The false accusations brought by the highly biased Unselect Committee on January 6th have already been presented, prosecuted and tried in the form of False Impeachment #2,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Hours after the riots, Trump released a video statement telling the rioters to go home but also telling them he loved them. He then sent a tweet saying: “These are the things and events that happen when a world election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously taken away.”
The select committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans unanimously approved the impeachment recommendation.
The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to meet on Tuesday to decide what to do with Trump’s tax returns, which he won late last month after a long court battle. Trump was the first presidential candidate in decades not to release his tax returns during either of his presidential campaigns.
Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Moira Warburton, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Richard Cowan, Sarah N. Lynch and Steve Holland; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis
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