The House select committee that was investigating the event in Washington DC on Jan. 6, 2021, has recommended former President Donald Trump should face criminal charges for his actions in connection with last year’s Capitol riot..The so-called bipartisan panel recommended the Justice Department charge Trump with insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, making false statements to investigators, and conspiracy to defraud the US government, after determining he pushed claims he knew were false about the 2020 presidential election..“[Trump] lost the 2020 election and knew it, but he chose to try to stay in office through a multi-part scheme to overturn the results and block the transfer of power,” said committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D.-Miss.) in his opening statement. “In the end, he summoned a mob to Washington and, knowing they were armed and angry, pointed them to the capital and told them to ‘fight like hell.’”.The vote is largely symbolic but opens the door for the Justice Department to pursue a case against Trump..“We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a roadmap to justice, and that the agencies and institutions responsible for ensuring justice under the law will use the information we provided to aid in their work,” Thompson said..Attorney General Merrrick Garland will make the ultimate decision on whether to prosecute Trump..An insurrection conviction would render the former president ineligible to hold public office again, which the committee’s vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), would surely support..On Monday, she said Trump is “unfit for any office” after he watched the riot on television for hours without intervening or making a statement to call off the rioters despite “urgent pleas from his White House staff and dozens of others to do so.”.“During this time, law enforcement agents were attacked and seriously injured. The Capitol was invaded, the electoral count was halted and the lives of those in the capitol were put at risk,” she said..The US constitution states it is illegal to incite, partake in or assist “any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States of laws thereof,” and the committee argued Trump conspired and did so to obstruct the Jan. 6 Electoral College vote count..To date, federal prosecutors have avoided calling the Jan. 6, 2021 violence an insurrection, instead opting for the term “riot” in federal cases charging those who participated in the physical storming of the Capitol..“[Trump] summon[ed] tens of thousands of supporters to Washington and, knowing they were angry, and some were armed, sent them to the Capitol,” the committee alleged..The obstruction charge relates to preventing an official proceeding – in this case, the Jan. 6, 2021 Congressional certification of the 2020 election results. The charge describes one who “obstructs, influences or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so,” according to US law..Conspiracy to defraud the government describes a crime involving at least two people who “conspire either to commit any offense against the United States or to defraud the United States,” at least one of whom make “any act” to bring about the conspired goal..The panel alleges that Trump conspired with confidants to illegally overturn the 2020 election, using fraudulent claims, filing lawsuits to delay congressional proceedings and ultimately resorting to inciting the Jan. 6 riot..In its Oct. 21 subpoena of Trump, the committee claimed the former president “personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”.The vote was conducted 15 days before the new Republican majority takes over in the House of Representatives, upon which it is expected to dissolve the select committee at the first opportunity..The Republicans have also promised a full investigation into the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
