Jan. 6 committee refers Trump to DOJ for criminal charges

After gaveling in the committee's meeting, Chairman Bennie Thompson said Donald Trump broke the "faith in our system" when he failed to accept the results of the 2020 election.

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

"In the end, he summoned the mob to Washington knowing they were armed and angry, pointed them to the Capitol and told them to fight like hell," Thompson added. There's no doubt about this."

The final business meeting of the Jan. 6 committee is underway, bringing members’ 18-month-long investigation to a dramatic and televised close.

After ten public hearings and hundreds of hours of closed-door depositions on what led to the Capitol attack, the committee is meeting publicly one last time to present referrals and vote to approve its final report.

Members are expected to release an executive summary of their report following the meeting including details on expected criminal referrals as well as more information about witnesses who have appeared before the committee, according to a committee aide. Sources tell ABC News members are expected to recommend criminal charges against Trump.

Monday’s executive summary comes ahead of a fuller release of the committee’s final report on Wednesday. The select committee is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2022, just days before Republicans take back control of the House.

Going into the committee room on Monday, Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters the committee plans to transmit the criminal referrals to the Department of Justice shortly after they "take care of business today."

Thompson also said he has no plans to meet with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the Justice Department's major Jan. 6 cases as well as the department’s investigation into classified documents taken from the White House by Trump.

-ABC News Katherine Faulders and Will Steakin

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.

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.