What it means for the committee to make criminal referrals
The Justice Department is not obligated to act on referrals, but public hearings outlining Trump's "seven-point plan" to overturn the 2020 presidential election have amped up pressure on Garland to bring criminal charges against Trump -- which would be the first in history against a former president.
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The Justice Department for months has been conducting its own separate investigation into Jan. 6, which has included multiple former senior Trump White House staffers along with his close allies appearing before grand juries.
"The committee's public hearings have raised the stakes enormously for the country, in the sense that the criminal activity shown to have gone on is so brazen, that if the Justice Department does not enforce the law in this case, it really does further erode the rule of law and democracy," Ryan Goodman, a New York University School of Law professor, told ABC News.
Click here for more on the pros, cons and limits of a congressional criminal referral.