Extract from ABC News
In its final public meeting, the January 6 committee unanimously voted to refer Donald Trump and several of his allies to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for potential criminal prosecution over the storming of the US Capitol in 2021.
The house select committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans has spent 18 months investigating the deadly riot, as well as the former president's "multi-part plan" to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
On Monday afternoon, local time, the panel convened in Washington DC to approve its hefty eight-chapter report, which is due to be released later this week.
It also voted to recommend the DOJ charge Mr Trump with four federal crimes, marking the first time congress has made a criminal referral against a former president in American history.
"If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again," committee chair Bennie Thompson said in his opening address.
"There's one fact I believe is most important in preventing another January 6th: accountability."
"So today, beyond our findings, we will also show that evidence we've gathered points to further action beyond the power of this committee or the congress to help ensure accountability on the law.
"Accountability that can only be found in the criminal justice system."
Here's what we learned.
Jan 6 committee makes history by referring Trump to DOJ
Hundreds of participants in the events on January 6 are already facing individual criminal charges, with many convicted or awaiting trial in US courts.
But the committee confirmed it planned to hand over its own evidence and a roadmap to prosecute Mr Trump and several of his high-profile associates for federal crimes, including aiding insurrection.
Committee member Jamie Raskin said the panel would make criminal referrals where "the gravity of the specific offence, the severity of its actual harm, and the centrality of the offender to the overall design of the unlawful scheme to overthrow the election" could not be ignored.
"Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass," he said.
Mr Raskin then detailed why the committee believed there was sufficient evidence in its report to make a criminal referral against Mr Trump to the justice department for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election result.
The four potential charges it cited include:
- Obstruction of an official proceeding: The committee found the "whole purpose and obvious effect of Trump's scheme were to obstruct, influence and impede" the joint session of congress on January 6, 2021, to certify Joe Biden's victory
- Conspiracy to defraud the US government: Mr Raskin said Mr Trump "entered into agreements, formal and informal, with several other individuals who assisted him with his criminal objectives" to obstruct a lawful certification of the election
- Making false statements to the US government: The committee believes Mr Trump "conspired with others to submit slates of fake electors to Congress and the National Archives"
- Insurrection: Mr Raskin said the committee had developed "significant evidence" that Mr Trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transition of power as set out under the US constitution
Mr Raskin described the final charge as a "rebellion against the authority of the United States".
The committee alleged the former president committed insurrection by encouraging the January 6 attack and then failing to put a stop to it.
"The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act, to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," he said.
"Nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against the constitutional order."
The members of the panel were asked to vote on the referrals, which they passed unanimously.
The DOJ, which is already pursuing a separate criminal probe of Mr Trump's actions on and surrounding January 6, is not compelled to act on referrals from congress, which carry no legal weight.
However, the panel's decision on Tuesday sends a symbolic message about the breadth of evidence it has collected against Mr Trump and how his actions could constitute multiple serious crimes.
Mr Trump, who has previously described the committee's investigation as a "witch hunt," released a statement claiming the committee action's "strengthened" him.
"These folks don't get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger," he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
"Americans know that I pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on Jan 6, and that I went on television and told everyone to go home …"
While the committee interviewed many members of Mr Trump's inner circle during its investigation, the former president eluded them.
In a hearing on October 13, the panel voted unanimously to subpoena Mr Trump for relevant documents and his account of the events of January 6, 2021.
But even though the former president initially suggested he would testify, he failed to comply with the request and filed a lawsuit asking the courts to protect him from giving testimony.
Criminal referrals go beyond Trump
The January 6 committee also voted in favour of criminal referrals for several individuals who participated in various efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including the scheme a federal judge previously referred to as a "coup in search of a legal theory".
In March, US District Court Judge David Carter concluded Mr Trump and former White House lawyer John Eastman's plan to pressure former vice-president Mike Pence to block the certification of electoral college votes on January 6 likely constituted two federal crimes.
Citing Judge Carter's ruling, the committee ultimately went further.
"Former president Trump did not engage in a plan to defraud the United States acting alone," Mr Raskin said.
"He entered into agreements, formal and informal, with several other individuals who assisted him with his criminal objectives."
Along with Mr Eastman, several other "co-conspirators who agreed with and participated in Mr Trump's plan to impair, obstruct and defeat the certification of President Joe Biden's electoral victory" are expected to be named in the committee's final report.
Those whose roles will be laid out in detail include key players who emerged throughout the committee's nine hearings, such as Mr Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former justice department official Jeffrey Clark, and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The committee subpoenaed Mr Meadows for documents and testimony in September 2021, and he handed over more than 2,000 text messages he sent and received between election day 2020 and Mr Biden's inauguration.
Mr Meadows refused to testify, suggesting information tied to the ex-president could be deemed privileged — an argument widely panned by legal experts.
"[The committee's] understanding of the role of many individuals may be incomplete even today because they refuse to answer our questions," Mr Raskin said.
"We trust that the Department of Justice will be able to form a far more complete picture through its own investigation."
The committee previewed its bombshell report
Ahead of its historic vote, the committee revisited its nine previous hearings.
In a now-familiar format, the panel aired a slickly produced video weaving footage of Trump supporters breaching the Capitol, scenes from its closed-door interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses, and previously given live testimony.
One of the former president's advisers, Hope Hicks, described her former boss's chilling response when she aired concerns about how the riot might impact his legacy.
"He said something along the lines of, 'Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won't matter. The only thing that matters is winning,'" she said.
The video again showed how Mr Trump's tweet on December 19 — "Be there. Will be wild!" — galvanised far-right extremists, including militia groups Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, and set expectations about the date of January 6.
Then, on the morning of the planned protest, he delivered incendiary remarks at a protest in Washington DC, and later turned his supporters on his deputy Mike Pence via Twitter.
"President Trump lit the flame," committee member Elaine Luria said.
"He poured gasoline on the fire and sat by in the White House dining room for hours watching the fire burn.
"And today, he still continues to fan those flames."
As proceedings wrapped up, the committee released a dense summary of the contents of its final report.
Clocking in at more than 100 pages, the summary begins with snippets drawn from the testimonies of those who participated in the events of January 6, many of whom expressed regret over their actions nearly two years on.
"I guess I was [acting] like a traitor, somebody against my own government," Oath Keeper Graydon Young testified in a separate trial in October.
All eyes on the DOJ
The committee is due to hand down its full report on Wednesday, local time.
The huge cache of evidence, which could be thousands of pages long, is expected to include the transcripts of more than 1,000 witness interviews.
The details of the report could prove to be a significant development by "helping federal prosecutors determine which leads to track and which witnesses may have committed crimes themselves," according to Politico.
But for now, Mr Trump's fate rests with the DOJ, which needs build its own case, beyond the recommendations of congress, to indict a former president
"We now turn to the criminal justice system to ensure justice under the law," committee member Adam Kinzinger tweeted after the hearing.
His statement echoed the words of his Republican colleague, vice-chair Liz Cheney, who acknowledged in her opening address the committee’s public hearings and upcoming report represented just the tip of the iceberg in its investigation.
"The committee recognises that our work has only begun," she said.
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