The House Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol recommended Monday that the Justice Department file criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
The lawmakers recommended charging him with four counts stemming from Trump’s months-long effort to stay in power after his electoral defeat: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and efforts to incite, assist or help an insurrection.
The panel voted unanimously to send the criminal references to the Department of Justice. It is the first time that the House has recommended criminal charges against a former president. They don’t guarantee that Trump will be charged, but they add to the evidence being weighed by the Justice Department and special counsel Jack Smith in the Trump investigation.
Its members argued that Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results — from pushing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud to urging his supporters to send fake voters to Washington — constitute enough evidence for federal prosecutors to convict the former president.
“Even if it were true that President Trump actually believed the election was stolen, this is not a defense. No president can ignore the courts and deliberately break the law no matter what alleged ‘justification’ he presents,” the lawmakers wrote in a section of their report, released Monday.
The panel also recommended that the House ethics committee investigate Trump surrogates for ignoring congressional subpoenas seeking testimony about their knowledge and efforts surrounding the January 6 attack, including the House Minority Leader. Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California; Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio; Rep. Andy Biggs, Republican of Arizona; and Rep. Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania.
The criminal references mark a historic end to the 18-month investigation by the House Committee investigating the January 6 attack and are detailed in selected parts of its report released Monday.
The statement comes just days before House Republicans, including many who worked with Trump in his effort to change the results of the 2020 election, take office next month as a result of the November midterm elections.
The lawmakers wrote that Trump obstructed an official congressional procedure with his repeated efforts to delay or deny the counting of electoral votes on January 1. 6 that would finalize the transfer of power to then-President-elect Joe Biden.
Also that he committed a “conspiracy to defraud the United States,” in particular when he offered to appoint Jeffrey Clark, Acting Attorney General of the Department of Justice, if he agreed to help him push through the fake voter scheme by falsely claiming that the Justice Department found evidence of widespread fraud.
Also, that he entered into a “conspiracy to make a false statement” when he “conspired with others to present false voters to Congress and the National Archives.”
And for the fourth criminal reference, which sought to incite and help an insurrection. “President Trump was directly responsible for summoning what became a violent mob in Washington DC, urging them to march on the Capitol, and then further goading that already violent and lawless crowd with his tweet about Vice President Mike Pence.” .
“The evidence has led to one overwhelming and straightforward conclusion: The central cause of January 6 was one man, former President Donald Trump, who was followed by many others. None of the events of January 6 would have occurred without him,” the summary says.
