Jan. 6 committee refers Trump to DOJ for criminal charges

Public attitudes on Donald Trump's culpability surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack have been essentially steady over the past year, with a slight majority of Americans saying he should be charged with a crime, according to ABC News/Washington Post and ABC News/Ipsos polling.

A survey in April found 52% responding that Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the Capitol attack, while 42% said he should not. Polling in September showed those favoring a charge remained at 52%, while those opposed to charges fell slightly to 39%.

In January 2021, about a week after the Capitol attack, 54% of respondents said Trump should be charged with inciting a riot.

-ABC News' Gary Langer

Over a series of nine hearings this summer and fall, the committee outlined an alleged "sophisticated seven-point plan" it says Trump and his allies engaged in with the goal of stopping the peaceful transfer of power, including "corruptly" planning to replace federal and state officials with those who would support his fake election claims and pressuring Pence to violate his oath to uphold the Constitution.

Acting on a plan with the intent to stop the counting of electoral votes would likely violate 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c), obstruction of an official proceeding, which makes it a felony to attempt to "corruptly obstruct, influence, or impede any official proceeding," such as the certification of a presidential election, and comes with up to 20 years in prison.

Another statute raised by Rep. Liz Cheney over several hearings, 18 U.S.C. § 371, conspiracy to defraud the United States, criminalizes the agreement between two or more persons to "impair, obstruct or defeat the lawful government functions" and is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Click here for more on the potential charges.

The House Jan. 6 select committee in a matter of hours will consider its final report, which is expected to reveal how far it will go in accusing Trump of deep involvement in what it says was a plot to overturn the 2020 election.

Even before it began a series of high-profile public hearings in June, Trump repeatedly railed against the panel, dubbing it the "unselect" committee and casting it as a partisan "witch hunt," attacking witnesses and denying wrongdoing, all while making false claims of widespread election fraud two years ago.

The committee, meanwhile, has interviewed scores of witnesses and heard their dramatic testimony in front of TV cameras, delivering a slate of bombshells about the inner workings of the Trump White House leading up to Jan. 6 and on the day itself.

Click here for some of what Trump has said.

-ABC News' Tal Axelrod

The most important business at hand when the select committee meets this afternoon is the committee's highly anticipated decision on criminal referrals.

Sources familiar told ABC News the committee is preparing to urge the Department of Justice to prosecute Donald Trump for obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Another criminal charge under discussion is insurrection, the sources said.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., tasked a subcommittee to make recommendations on criminal referrals and to also explore enforcement options for the five Republican lawmakers who ignored subpoenas to testify: Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Andy Biggs, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry and Mo Brooks.

Thompson has said to expect "five or six" categories of referrals, which means there could be referrals to several different entities such as the Justice Department or the House Committee on Ethics.

The extent of the criminal referrals, and who will be targeted, will be made clear in a matter of hours when the committee releases a separate, shorter report on the matter. Any referrals would be a largely symbolic move, though, as it's ultimately up to federal prosecutors whether to pursue charges.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders