Jan. 6 committee recommends criminal charges against Trump, including aiding insurrection

The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee has wrapped up its investigation of the violent 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, with lawmakers on Monday declaring that they have assembled a "roadmap to justice" to bring criminal charges against former president Donald Trump and his allies.

As they cap one of the most exhaustive and aggressive congressional probes in memory, the panel's seven Democrats and two Republicans are recommending criminal charges against Trump and associates who helped him launch a multifaceted pressure campaign to try to overturn his 2020 election loss.

The committee alleged violations of four criminal statutes by Trump, in both the run-up to the riot and during the insurrection itself, as it recommended the former president for prosecution to the U.S. Justice Department. The charges recommended by the committee are conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to make a false statement and insurrection.

In a statement, Trump said,"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."

While a criminal referral is mostly symbolic, with the Justice Department ultimately deciding whether to prosecute Trump or others, it is a decisive end to a probe that had an almost singular focus from the start.

In adopting its final report, the committeealso recommended a congressional ethics investigations for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and other members of Congress for their actions in defying congressional subpoenas for information about their interactions with Trump before, during and after the siege.

WATCH | Committee votes to urge Department of Justice to charge Trump with 4 crimes:

Jan. 6 committee recommends criminal charges against Trump

2 years ago

Duration 2:44

The U.S. congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is taking the unprecedented step of recommending criminal charges against former president Donald Trump and others close to him.

'A time of reflection and reckoning'

"The committee is nearing the end of its work, but as a country we remain in strange and uncharted waters," said Chair Bennie Thompson. "Nearly two years later this is still a time of reflection and reckoning."

He said, "We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a roadmap to justice."

Thompson said Trump "broke the faith" that people have when they cast ballots in a democracy.

"He lost the 2020 election and knew it," Thompson said. "But he chose to try to stay in office through a multi-part scheme to overturn the results and block the transfer of power."

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel's Republican vice-chair, said in opening remarks that every president in American history has defended the orderly transfer of power, "except one."

The committee also voted 9-0 to approve its final report, which will include findings, interview transcripts and legislative recommendations.

The report is expected to be released in full Wednesday.

WATCH | The vote:

Vote to refer criminal charges against Trump

2 years ago

Duration 1:51

In its final move, the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol voted unanimously to approve its final report, which recommends federal charges be brought against Donald Trump.

'If that's not criminal, then I don't know what it is'

The panel, which will dissolve on Jan. 3 with the new Republican-led House, has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, held 10 well-watched public hearings and collected more than onemillion documents since it launched in July 2021.

As it has gathered the massive trove of evidence, the members have become emboldened in declaring that Trump, a Republican, is to blame for the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters almost two years ago.

After beating their way past police, injuring many of them, the Jan. 6 rioters stormed the Capitol and interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's presidential election win, echoing Trump's lies about widespread election fraud and sending lawmakers and others running for their lives.

The attack came after weeks of Trump's efforts to overturn his defeat a campaign that was extensively detailed by the committee in its multiple public hearings, and laid out again by lawmakers on the panel on Monday.

Many of Trump's former aides testified about his unprecedented pressure on states, on federal officials and on then U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence to find a way to thwart the popular will.

The committee has also described in great detail how Trump riled up the crowd at a rally that morning and then did little to stop his supporters for several hours as he watched the violence unfold on television.

California Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democratic member of the panel, said ahead of the hearing that Trump is someone who "in multiple ways tried to pressure state officials to find votes that didn't exist, this is someone who tried to interfere with a joint session, even inciting a mob to attack the Capitol."

"If that's not criminal, then I don't know what it is," Schiff said.

More than 800 people have been charged in the attack on the Capitol, and the panel showed that many of them were hanging on Trump's every word in the weeks after the November election.

Along with militant Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, many other Americans stormed the Capitol that day.

One said he wanted to "do my part to stop the steal and stand behind Trump." Others detailed how the fighting only subsided once Trump tweeted hours later that they should go home.

In unveiling its decision to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department, the panel indicated the importance of holding Trump and those around him responsible.

"Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ringleaders get a pass," saidRep. JamieRaskin, a constitutional scholar who played a lead role in drafting the documents.

'The only thing that matters is winning'

The panel aired some new evidence at Monday'smeeting, including a recent interview with longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks.

Describing a conversation she had with Trump around that time, she said he told her that no one would care about his legacy if he lost the election.

Hicks told the committee that Trump told her, "The only thing that matters is winning."

While a so-called criminal referral has no real legal standing, it is a forceful statement by the committee.

The Department of Justice has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate Trump's role in the Capitol attack, and the former president's efforts to upend the election results in Georgia are being probed by prosecutors in the state.

Still, the criminal referrals of a former president are rare, and grave. The panel quieted for a solemn roll call vote as each committee member agreed to adopt the final report and its findings.

"We understand the gravity of each and every referral we are making today, just as we understand the magnitude of the crime against democracy," Raskin said.

WATCH | New footage of legislators as riot swelled released by committee:

New footage of congressional leaders phoning for help during Capitol siege

2 years ago

Duration 7:58

The Jan. 6 committee presented new video Thursday which showed congressional members, both Republican and Democrat, trying to get help as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is heard saying, 'They're breaking the law in many different ways quite frankly at the instigation of the president of the United States.'

A committee born of division

Rather than bring ittogether, the events of Jan. 6 continue to divide the Congress and the country.

The committee was born ofdivision, established by Democrats after Republicans in Congress blocked the formation of a 9/11-style independent commission that could probe the Capitol attack and make recommendations.

The panel's purpose was to investigate and report on the "facts, circumstances, and causes" of the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol a public record for history.

But after 18 months and 10 public hearings, the panel knows it still has work to do reaching all Americans in a country often riven by partisanship.

"We understood that millions of Americans still lack the information necessary to understand and evaluate what president Trump has told them about the election," the report said.

"For that reason, our hearings featured a number of members of president Trump's inner circle refuting his fraud claims and testifying that the election was not in fact stolen."