UPDATED 2:59 p.m.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on Monday asked federal prosecutors to charge Donald Trump with obstruction and insurrection for his role in sparking the deadly riot.
The Democratic-led select committee’s request to the Justice Department is non-binding, but comes as a special counsel is overseeing two other federal probes of the Republican former president related to his attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat, and the removal of classified files from the White House.
The panel asked the Justice Department to charge Trump with obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements and aiding or inciting and insurrection.
“An insurrection is a rebellion against the authority of the United States. It is a grave federal offense, anchored in the Constitution itself,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the select committee member, as he announced the charges.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the committee’s move. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Monday’s meeting was the last final public gathering of a nine-member panel that spent 18 months probing the unprecedented attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power by thousands of Trump backers, inspired by his false claims that his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud.
The committee also said it referred four Republican House members, including Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, to the chamber’s ethics committee, for failing to comply with its legal subpoenas as it investigated the attack.
“If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again,” said Representative Bennie Thompson, the select committee’s chairperson, as the meeting began.
Slamming Trump for summoning the mob to the Capitol nearly two years ago, Thompson also criticized the former president for undermining faith in the democratic system.
“If the faith is broken, so is our democracy. Donald Trump broke that faith,” Thompson said.
Trump has already launched a campaign to seek the Republican nomination to run for the White House again in 2024.
SEVERAL INVESTIGATIONS
The select committee’s work is one of a series of investigations into the riot. Five people, including a police officer, died during or shortly after the incident and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.
“Among the most shameful of this committee’s findings, was the President Trump sat in the dining room off the Oval Office, watching the violent riot at the Capitol on television,” Representative Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the committee and its vice chairperson, said.
A jury has already found members of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia guilty of sedition for their role in the attack. Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed last month to lead federal probes into Trump.
Trump has faced a series of legal problems since leaving office. His real estate company was convicted on Dec. 6 of carrying out a 15-year-long criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities.
Trump has dismissed the many investigations he faces as politically motivated. He says the Jan.6 committee, dominated by Democrats, is biased against him.
“The highly partisan Unselect Committee is illegally leaking confidential info to anyone that will listen,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social platform before the meeting. “How much longer are Republicans, and American Patriots in general, going to allow this to happen.”
The select committee approved its report including the recommendation of charges unanimously, with all of its seven Democrats and two Republicans in favor.
The House Ways and Means Committee is due to meet on Tuesday to decide what to do with Trump‘s tax returns, which it obtained late last month after a long court fight. Trump was the first presidential candidate in decades to not release his tax returns during either of his campaigns for president.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Moira Warburton, additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Sarah N. Lynch and Steve Holland; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters moves to wrap up its work this week with what could be as many as three criminal referrals against the former president.
The Democratic-led panel has spent 18 months probing the unprecedented attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power by thousands of backers of the Republican president, inspired by Trump’s false claims that his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud.
Possible criminal referrals to the Justice Department could be on charges including obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and insurrection, according to multiple media reports.
The Guardian and Politico first reported the possible charges, citing unidentified sources.
The committee is scheduled to meet Monday to consider referrals and vote on its final report, which it expects to release in full on Wednesday. Panel members have declined to provide specifics ahead of the meeting.
“We’re focused on key players. And we’re focused on key players where there is sufficient evidence or abundant evidence that they committed,” Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democratic committee member, told reporters at the Capitol last week.
However, the impact of any referrals is not clear because the Justice Department would have to decide whether to pursue charges.
The select committee’s work is one of a series of investigations into the riot.
A jury has already found members of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia guilty of sedition for their role in the attack and a special counsel, Jack Smith, is leading probes into Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss and his removal of classified documents from the White House.
With Republicans due to take control of the House of Representatives next month, the Jan. 6 committee is expected to be disbanded, even as Trump seeks the Republican nomination to run for the White House again in 2024.
The committee’s best-known work has been a series of televised hearings and meetings from July 2021 to October 2022.
Those featured testimony from close associates of Trump, including his eldest daughter, Ivanka — who said she did not believe her father’s false stolen-election claims — members of his administration and dramatic videos of the attack, when thousands of rioters stormed the Capitol, sending lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives.
Targets being considered for referrals also include former Republican House member and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorney John Eastman, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, according to multiple media reports.
The committee subpoenaed all five after they failed to comply with requests to testify, although some did so after being subpoenaed.
It subpoenaed Trump in October, asking him to testify and provide documents, but he filed suit to block the action.
Five people including a police officer died during or shortly after the riot and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.
SOME TRUMP ALLIES DID NOT BELIEVE HIM
In the almost two years since leaving office, Trump has kept up his false claims of election fraud, although dozens of courts, state reviews and members of his own administration, including former Attorney General Bill Barr, have dismissed his claims as unfounded.
The committee’s hearings included testimony from multiple Trump associates that Trump knew some participants in the riot arrived armed and that he wanted to join the mob as it marched toward the Capitol, after giving a fiery speech.
Trump has dismissed the many investigations he faces as politically motivated as he seeks to return to power.
But Republicans’ weaker-than-expected performance in midterm elections last month, including losses by multiple candidates who embraced his election falsehoods, showed a significant number of voters reject his claims.
Some prominent Republicans have urged the party to move on from Trump’s focus on 2020 as they select a nominee for 2024. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in October found that two in five Republicans believed Trump was at least partly responsible for the attack.
It would be up to the Justice Department itself to decide whether to pursue any prosecutions recommended by the committee.
Federal prosecutors have already gone after two Trump allies that the committee recommended charging. In July, a jury found former Trump adviser Steve Bannon guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify, and former White House adviser Peter Navarro is due to stand trial next month on the same charge.
Attorney General Merrick Garland last month named Smith, a war crimes prosecutor, to serve as special counsel leading the Trump probes. That action was intended to isolate the investigations from any appearance of political interference as Trump and Biden prepare for a possible election rematch.
Four of the committee’s members, including both Republicans, leave Congress early next year. Democrat Stephanie Murphy and Republican Adam Kinzinger are retiring and the other two, the panel’s Republican vice chairperson, Liz Cheney, and Democratic member Elaine Luria, lost their elections.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)
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