The special panel unanimously approved recommending to the Justice Department to prosecute Donald Trump for being the “central figure” of the events of January 6, 2021. It would be the first time in US history that a former president would face criminal charges
Text: yeny garcia
The panel of the United States Congress investigating the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 unanimously approved this Monday the final report of its investigations and recommended that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) initiate criminal proceedings against former President Donald Trump for being the “central figure” in the events.
In what is expected to be its last public session, before the dissolution of the current legislature of Congress, the bipartisan special committee recommended impeaching Trump on charges of obstruction of official congressional proceedings and conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and to incite and assist members of an insurrection.
If the DOJ accepts the recommendation and opens the cases, it would be the first time in the history of the North American country in which a former president would face trial for criminal conduct.
“The evidence has led to an absolute and direct conclusion: the cause of January 6 was a single man, former President Donald Trump, who was followed by many others. None of the events of January 6 would have happened without him,” warns the summary of the final report, which will be made public in the coming days.
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The panel also specified that it is advancing recommendations to prosecute former Trump lawyer John Eastman and others on criminal charges, without yet specifying the names of the other potential defendants.
The indications of the special committee are not binding and are completely symbolic -since it remains in the hands of the Justice portfolio if it decides to initiate the processes against the ex-president-, although they could represent an obstacle in Trump’s aspirations to return to the White House in 2024.
“A man like that is not qualified to have a position in the Government,” insisted the vice president of the committee, the Republican Liz Cheney, during the hearing.
A video summary was presented at the session with the most important evidence collected by the Congress panel, which has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and reviewed some 1,400 documents, in 17 months of investigations into the chaos unleashed when some 2,000 Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to block congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Created in July 2021, the panel is made up of a Democratic majority, although it includes two Republicans -Cheney and Adam Kinzinger- who are highly critical of Trump.
Witnesses and members of the Capitol’s law enforcement who confronted the crowd that day, reacted visibly moved this Monday to the harsh images of the mob breaking into the Legislative headquarters.
The panel also presented key excerpts from interviews with close Trump aides, senior Trump administration officials, members of his staff and local government representatives from states like Arizona and Georgia, who offered testimony about how they were pressured to stop the recount of votes. .
Members of the former president’s team said they received no direction from Trump to try to stop the assault. In a segment called “187 minutes” evidence was shown of how the former president waited more than three hours to calm things down and ask the assailants to go home.
The unprecedented attack on the US Capitol left more than a hundred police officers injured. Officially, more than five deaths have been recorded, including that of an assailant who was fatally shot while trying to get past a door and that of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after suffering two strokes.
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Hundreds of people have been arrested across the US in connection with the attack and several have been convicted of sedition charges.
So far, Trump has not reacted directly to the final report of the special committee. However, on Sunday he commented on social media: “Republicans and patriots across the country must stand strong and united against the thugs and scoundrels of the Unselect Committee. It will be a dark period in American history, but with darkness comes light!”
In a statement released on Friday, December 16, Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, dismissed the work of the congressional panel, arguing that it conducted “mock trials” that are a “stain on the history of this country,” in a process that ” insults the intelligence of Americans and mocks our democracy.”
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