Jan. 6 Committee recommends DOJ charge Trump with four crimes related to Capitol attack

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Donald Trump committed crimes and should be prosecuted. That is what the bipartisan House Select Committee Investigating the January 6th Attack on the Capitol said in its final meeting Monday.

“We have gone where the facts and the law lead us, and inescapably, they lead us here,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)

After 17 months of investigating, the January 6th Select Committee concluded Monday the Department of Justice should charge former President Donald Trump and his associates with obstructing Congress, conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statement and inciting and assisting an insurrection on the US Capitol.

“There’s one factor that I believe is most important in preventing another January 6th, accountability,” said Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)

The committee released its executive summer after it conducted more than a thousand interviews and held 10 public hearings. Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said what Trump did to help plan January 6th and what he did not immediately do on the day to stop the violence is inexcusable.

“No man who would behave that way, at that moment in time, can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office,” said Cheney.

The Committee said Trump’s staffers repeatedly tried to get him to stop his supporters before and during the insurrection from carrying out their premeditated attack. But ultimately, they said Trump was not interested in anything other than doing what it takes to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“President Trump lit the flame. He poured gasoline on the fire and he sat by in the White House Dining Room for hours watching the fire burn. And today, he still continues to fan those flames. That is extreme dereliction of duty,” said Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.)

In a statement, Trump’s PAC called the Committee a “sham” and the criminal referrals “bogus.” The Committee also referred four members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

It is now up to the Department of Justice if Trump, his associates and any lawmakers will be charged with any crimes.

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