Jan. 6 committee refers Trump to DOJ for criminal charges

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.


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Members take turns describing evidence to support expected criminal referrals

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"It was only after the threat of mass resignations that President Trump rescinded his offer" to one loyalist, Jeffrey Clark, to replace Barr as attorney general.


Lofgren says lawyers, entities 'linked' to Trump contacted witnesses

Committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said the panel found evidence that Trump raised hundreds of millions of dollars on false elections claims, some of which was used to hire lawyers to "provide and offer employment to witnesses."

Lofgren said that a female witness was offered a job from entities "linked" to Trump, and the offer was withdrawn once reports of her testimony circulated.

"We are concerned these efforts may have been a strategy to prevent the committee from finding the truth," she said.

Lofgren also played a new clip of a recent interview with former Trump adviser Hope Hicks, who said she expressed concern Trump was damaging his legacy with false fraud claims.

Hicks recalled Trump saying, "'Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won't matter. The only thing that matters is winning.'"

"Donald Trump knowingly and corruptly repeated election fraud lies, which incited his supporters to violence on January 6," Lofgren said. "He continues to repeat his meritless claim that the election was stolen even today."


Committee plays montage of notable moments from its public hearings

For Americans who might have missed some of the hearings, the committee played a montage of highlights from its hearings and closed-door videotaped depositions to hammer home their findings that Trump was told he lost the election but pushed forward with an attempt to remain in power anyway.

That included deposition from former Attorney General Bill Barr, who told the committee that he thought Trump's claims of fraud were "bull****." Also played again Thursday was deposition from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who told the committee he described Trump's plan to install a loyalist to be acting attorney general as a "murder-suicide pact."

Moments from Cassidy Hutchinson's bombshell testimony were also played, including her comments about Trump's desire to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6.


Cheney says Trump 'unfit for any office'

Co-chair Rep. Liz Cheney focused her opening remarks on how Donald Trump was the first president in American history to refuse a peaceful transfer of power and argued he should never be allowed to hold office again.

"January 6, 2021, was the first time one American president refused his constitutional duty to transfer power peacefully to the next," she said. "In our work over the last 18 months, the select committee has recognized our obligation to do everything we can to ensure this never happens again."

Cheney said among the most "shameful" of the committee's findings was that Trump sat in the dining room off the Oval Office watching the Capitol attack on television and resisted for hours issuing a public statement instructing his supporters to disperse, despite urgent pleas from White House staff and lawmakers.

"During this time, law enforcement agents were attacked and seriously injured. The Capitol was invaded. The electoral count was halted, and the lives of those in the Capitol were put at risk," Cheney said. "In addition to being unlawful, as described in our report, this was an utter moral failure and a clear dereliction of duty."

"No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again," she added. "He is unfit for any office."


Criminal referrals the committee might make

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.