The House panel investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol is considering recommending that the Justice Department file an unprecedented criminal complaint of sedition and two other charges against former President Donald Trump.
In addition to sedition, an uprising aimed at overthrowing the government, the group is also considering recommending that prosecutors press charges for obstructing official procedures and conspiring to defraud the United States, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke privately. to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The panel’s deliberations continued late Friday, and no formal decision was made on what specific charges the panel will refer to the Justice Department.
The panel is scheduled to meet publicly Monday afternoon when all recommendations will be released.
A second person with knowledge of the deliberations, who also could not publicly discuss details of private deliberations, confirmed that the committee was considering three charges. According to this person, the attorney for the assembly was of the opinion that the three criminal laws were the strongest arguments.
The decision to make a recommendation was unexpected. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., co-chair of the committee, has for months signaled sending a criminal case to the Department of Justice based on the extensive evidence the panel’s nine members have amassed since its commencement in July 2021.
“You can’t send an armed mob into the Capitol; They were not allowed to sit for 187 minutes and refused to stop the attack while it was in progress. You can’t tweet that incites more violence,” Cheney said of Trump on NBC’s Meet the Press in October. “So we’ve been very clear on a number of different crimes that could have occurred.”
Committee Chair Rep. Benny Thompson, D-Miss., last week detailed possible references into a number of categories, including criminal and ethical offenses, statutory offenses, and campaign finance violations.
The federal prosecutor’s office will then decide whether a referral for criminal prosecution will be made. While not legally binding, the panel’s recommendations will increase political pressure on the Justice Department as it investigates Trump’s actions.
“The greatest constitutional crime is the attempt to overturn the presidential election and circumvent the constitutional order,” committee member Jamie Raskin, D-Med., told reporters last week. “On top of this, there are a series of legal crimes that add to the severity and scale of these violent attacks in America.”
Raskin, along with Cheney and Democrats Adam Schiff and Zoe Lofgren, both from California, formed a subcommittee that drafts referral recommendations and sends them to a larger body for consideration.
During its investigation, the committee recommended prosecuting several members of Trump’s inner circle for refusing to comply with subpoenas from Congress. One, for Steve Bannon, is generating a belief.
Monday’s session will also include a preview of the commission’s final report, which is expected to be published on Wednesday. The panel will vote to accept the official minutes, effectively authorizing the report’s public release.
The eight-chapter report will contain hundreds of pages of insight into the attack and Trump’s actions and words, based on what the commission learned from his interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses.
Leave a Reply