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.
Here's how the story developed:
- Trump responds to the Jan. 6 committee's criminal referrals
- Committee releases 160-page executive summary of final report
- Who is John Eastman?
- Panel refers four Republican lawmakers to the House Committee on Ethics
- Committee votes to approve referrals, final report
- Committee approves four criminal referrals for Trump
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Lofgren said that a female witness was offered a job from entities "linked" to Trump, and the offer was withdrawn once reports of her testimony circulated.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."
Committee’s work ‘to provide a roadmap to justice’: Thompson
Chairman Bennie Thompson, in his opening statement, said he believes committee's work over the past 18 months can help hold those responsible for the Capitol attack accountable.
"We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a roadmap to justice and that the agencies and institutions responsible for ensuring justice under law will use the information we provided to aid in their work," Thompson said.
"This committee is nearing the end of its work, but as a country we remain in strange and uncharted waters," Thompson said. "We've never had a president of the United States stir up a violent attempt to block the transfer of power. I believe, nearly two years later, this is still a time of reflection and reckoning."
"If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again," he warned.
Trump 'lost the 2020 election and knew it,' chairman says
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."