Extract from ABC News
Three days after it convened for its last public meeting, the House of Representatives select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol has released its long-awaited final report.
The dense 814-page document, accompanied by interview transcripts and video summaries, was published online on Thursday local time.
Its 100-plus-page executive summary gives an overview of what's inside, presenting 17 specific findings.
The report mirrors the nine public hearings in which the January 6 committee presented evidence of what it labelled a "multi-part plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election".
At the centre of the plan, the panel argued, was Donald Trump.
That "overriding and straightforward conclusion" also forms the basis of its report, according to the summary.
"[The] central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed," the committee wrote.
"None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him."
Here's what we know so far.
Jan 6 committee concludes Trump fomented insurrection
The January 6 committee has already begun handing over materials to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which it has publicly urged to prosecute Mr Trump on four criminal charges for fomenting violence at the Capitol with false voter fraud claims.
On Monday in Washington DC, the panel voted unanimously to adopt the report and refer Mr Trump to the DOJ, citing obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement to the US government; and inciting, assisting or aiding an insurrection.
The executive summary of the final report details the 17 key findings behind the charges.
First and foremost, the committee found that from the night of the 2020 election, the then-president "purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud" to help his efforts to overturn the election and solicit donations.
He did so, it concluded, despite losing dozens of related lawsuits and over the objections of his own senior advisers, many of whom urged him to concede.
Mr Trump then "corruptly pressured" his vice-president Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes in the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, despite "knowing such an action would be illegal", according to the summary.
The committee found that in his efforts to subvert the election, the former president pressured the DOJ to make false statements backing him up, then pushed to install an unqualified justice department official, Jeffrey Clark, as attorney-general.
He also tried to enlist state officials to change election results in their states and called on members of Congress to object to valid slates of electors in several states.
The committee concluded Mr Trump "summoned tens of thousands of supporters" to Washington DC on January 6, then instructed them to march to the Capitol, knowing many were angry and heavily armed.
When violence broke out, he "refused repeated requests over a multiple-hour period that he instruct his violent supporters to disperse … and instead watched the violent attack unfold on television".
"Each of these actions by Donald Trump was taken in support of a multi-part conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election," the committee wrote.
Trump's false election fraud claims 'premeditated'
The final report details how Donald Trump's 'Big Lie', that the presidency was stolen from him, was seeded well before election day.
He was warned by his campaign manager, Bill Stepien, among others, there could be an early "red mirage" on election night due to absentee and mail-in ballots, which are typically favoured by Democratic voters and take longer to count.
As the in-person votes rolled in, the incumbent took an early lead as predicted and called a meeting of his campaign team.
Several of Mr Trump's campaign advisers testified they had told him at that meeting it was premature to declare victory.
"It was far too early to be making any calls like that," Mr Stepien said.
"Ballots were still being counted. Ballots were still going to be counted for days."
Even so, Mr Trump made public remarks, insisting the counting stop.
"This is a fraud on the American public," he said.
"We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election."
The committee cited a range of evidence from as early as October 31, 2020, including recordings of Mr Trump's outside advisers Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, to conclude the move was pre-planned.
"President Trump's decision to declare victory falsely on election night and, unlawfully, to call for the vote counting to stop, was not a spontaneous decision," the committee wrote.
"It was premeditated."
As it became clear the former president had lost, he was told repeatedly by multiple senior advisers — including members of his campaign team, White House staff and family — there was no evidence of widespread election fraud.
Yet, he maintained the lie, surrounding himself with a new legal team, headed by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, to pursue increasingly outlandish theories of voter fraud and spurious legal avenues to delay or subvert the election.
That included filing more than 60 unsuccessful election lawsuits in federal and state courts, which the committee reviewed in its investigation.
"Despite all that Donald Trump was being told, he continued to purposely and maliciously make false claims," the committee wrote.
The summary includes 18 specific examples of Mr Trump's advisers debunking voter fraud claims in private meetings, only for him to amplify the disinformation on social media, in public and in fundraising emails soon after.
Trump raised roughly $US250 million in wake of 2020 election
Between election night and January 6, the committee found evidence Donald Trump raked in the equivalent of about $US250 million (nearly $375 million) through fundraising.
The report referred to millions of emails sent to supporters from the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, with messages claiming donations could stop Democrats from "trying to steal the election".
"Those solicitations persistently claimed and referred to election fraud that did not exist," the committee wrote in the executive summary.
Congress members referred to House Ethics Committee
The committee referred four Republican members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee for failing to comply with a subpoena it issued on May 12, 2022.
Those members include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Representative Jim Jordan, Representative Scott Perry, and Representative Andy Bigg.
"Despite the select committee's repeated attempts to obtain information from these members and the issuance of subpoenas, each has refused to cooperate and failed to comply with a lawfully issued subpoena," the committee wrote.
"If left unpunished, such behaviour undermines Congress's longstanding power to investigate in support of its lawmaking authority and suggests that members of Congress may disregard legal obligations that apply to ordinary citizens."
The four Republicans could face sanctions for their refusal to help with the committee's investigation, with penalties ranging from fines to being censured, reprimanded or possibly expelled from the House of Representatives.
Other possible sanctions include limiting the power, privilege or immunity of a House member or any other sanction determined by the committee to be appropriate.
But it's not certain the referrals will result in sanctions as the House Ethics Committee will have a Republican chair next year and is made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans.
Mr Trump also defied a committee subpoena issued in October.
The former president's lawyers then filed a lawsuit to block the US National Archives from supplying relevant White House records to investigators, which ultimately failed.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify but has not been prosecuted by the DOJ, while Steve Bannon was ultimately convicted on the same charge.
Trump's missing 187 minutes detailed
The committee outlines in its summary, and further in Chapter 8 of the report, what it describes as Mr Trump's "dereliction of duty" during the 187 minutes following his speech on January 6.
Mr Trump's diary, which normally provides an up-to-date record of his movements, was blank between 1:19pm and 4:03pm and the committee was unable to locate any official records of his telephone calls from that afternoon.
But the committee did lay out a time-stamped breakdown — based on interviews and records from non-official sources — of what the then-president did and didn't do after he was informed the Capitol was under attack at 1:25pm.
After arriving at the White House, he was told by an employee:
"They're rioting down there at the Capitol."
"Oh really?" the president asked, according to employee testimony given to the committee.
"All right, let's go see."
Mr Trump's official photographer then snapped a photo of the former president looking slightly stunned at the news, which the report said was "the last [picture] permitted until later in the day".
More than 20 minutes later, the DC Metropolitan Police Department declared a riot at the Capitol.
The committee heard White House staff then cooperated to produce a message for Mr Trump to deliver to the rioters, which he declined to make.
Instead, he remained in the dining room adjacent to the Oval Office, watching the events unfold on television and, according to his personal assistant, placed "lots of calls".
Mr Trump continued to resist efforts from his staffers to release a statement asking his supporters to leave the Capitol.
"President Trump did not contact a single top national security official during the day," the report said.
"Not at the Pentagon, nor at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Capitol Police Department, or the DC Mayor's office.
"As Vice-President Pence has confirmed, President Trump didn't even try to reach his own vice-president to make sure that Pence was safe."
Ivanka Trump and Kayley McEnany's credibility questioned
Over 18 months, the January 6 committee presented the testimony of more than 70 witnesses, both live and recorded, during its public hearings.
The majority — some four dozen — of those witnesses were Republicans.
"Even key individuals who worked closely with President Trump to try to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th ultimately admitted that they lacked actual evidence sufficient to change the election result, and they admitted that what they were attempting was unlawful," the committee wrote in the summary.
The panel conducted more than 1,000 interviews in total, including with "nearly all of the president's principal advisers", publishing several transcripts ahead of the final report's release.
Those include the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who delivered a dramatic account of Donald Trump raging in the presidential vehicle when Secret Service agents refused to take him to the Capitol on January 6.
After she addressed a hearing in June, Ms Hutchinson later told the committee her first Trump-aligned lawyer had encouraged her to obfuscate, saying "the less you remember, the better", according to a transcript of her interview.
While she testified her lawyer never explicitly told her to lie, she said it almost "felt like I had Trump looking over my shoulder".
"Because I knew in some fashion it would get back to him if I said anything that he would find disloyal," she said.
"And the prospect of that genuinely scared me."
While many witnesses cooperated fully, others were more reluctant or avoidant, and several key players refused to comply.
"Many of the witnesses before this committee had nothing at all to gain from their testimony, gave straightforward responses to the questions posed, and made no effort to downplay, deflect or rationalise," the committee wrote.
"Of course, that is not to say that all witnesses were entirely frank or forthcoming."
The report highlighted two high-profile witnesses: former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and the former president's daughter Ivanka Trump.
"In several circumstances, the committee has found that less senior White House aides had significantly better recollection of events than senior staff purported to have," the committee wrote.
It labelled Ms McEnany "evasive, as if she was testifying from pre-prepared talking points" and noted Ms Trump was "not as forthcoming" as others, including White House lawyer Pat Cipollone, about her father's conduct.
More than 30 witnesses exercised their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, including John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and Kenneth Chesebro.
What we still don't know
While the committee acknowledged the DOJ was already prosecuting hundreds of individuals who planned and participated in the January 6 attack, it was adamant those who spurred them on with false voter fraud claims should also face legal consequences.
"The department has not yet charged individuals who engaged in the broader plan to overturn the election through the means discussed in this report," the committee wrote in the executive summary.
"The committee has concluded that it is critical to hold those individuals accountable as well, including those who worked with President Trump to create and effectuate these plans."
The final report noted Mr Trump and "certain other individuals" had been criminally referred to the DOJ.
It also included 11 specific recommendations, including strengthening the 14th Amendment ban on those engaging in insurrection from holding federal or state office.
While historic, the committee's recommendations and referrals carry no legal weight.
But they could provide a road map for US politicians and for the DOJ to prosecute Mr Trump and others over the Capitol riot and various plots to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Attorney-General Merrick Garland has already appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, to lead two of its investigations related to Mr Trump.
One probe is related to the events surrounding January 6 and the other his hoarding of sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
The committee is expected to be dissolved when Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in early 2023, but chair Bennie Thompson has announced the bulk of the committee's "non-sensitive records" are set to be made public by the end of the year.
"These transcripts and documents will allow the American people to see for themselves the body of evidence we gathered and continue to explore the information that has led us to our conclusions," he said.
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