Criminal referrals on multiple charges were approved unanimously.
The House select committee examining the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol has held its final public meeting.
The panel voted to approve criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump regarding his failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Rep. Jamie Raskin announced four criminal referrals for Trump to the Department of Justice. Those referrals are: Obstruction of an Official Proceeding; Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Make a False Statement and “Incite,” “Assist” or “Aid and Comfort” an Insurrection.
In a dramatic climax, Rep. Jamie Raskin announced that the evidence obtained by the committee "warrants a criminal referral, of former president Donald J. Trump, John Eastman and others."
"We propose to the committee advancing referrals where the gravity of the specific offense, the severely of its actual harm and the centrality of the offender to the overall design of the unlawful scheme to the overall election compel to us speak," Raskin said. "Ours is not a skim of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass."
Raskin said "the starting point" of their analysis is how a federal judge already found Trump's and John Eastman's pressure on then-Vice President Mike Pence to obstruct the congressional count of electoral votes "more likely than not" violated two federal criminal statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
The announcement of the referrals is ongoing.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, in his opening remarks, focused on how Trump attempted to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally overturn his 2020 election loss.
Aguilar said Trump "embraced an illegal scheme" proposed by attorney John Eastman that claimed the vice president has the power to reject electoral votes during the joint session of Congress to certify the votes.
The scheme, Aguilar said, culminated in a "dangerous threat to Mr. Pence's life on Jan. 6."
"Rioters at the Capitol were heard chanting, 'Hang Mike Pence' through the afternoon," Aguilar said. "As a result of this unrest, Vice President Pence was forced to flee to a secure location."
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., outlined Trump's pressure campaign on state officials to stop Biden's certification, as members took turns linking the actions of Trump and his allies to potential criminal charges.
Schiff displayed images of fake elector certificates alongside real ones, telling how the "intentionally false" certificates were "transmitted to multiple officers of the federal government" and "were intended to interfere with the proper conduct of the joint session."
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., emphasized how Trump was repeatedly told there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential election, including three times from Attorney General Bill Barr, who called the claims "bull***."
But that didn't stop Trump from going to extreme lengths to stay in power, Kinzinger said.
"It was only after the threat of mass resignations that President Trump rescinded his offer" to one loyalist, Jeffrey Clark, to replace Barr as attorney general.
