Jan. 6 committee refers Trump to DOJ for criminal charges
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.
Latest Developments
Dec 19, 6:36 PM
Trump responds to the Jan. 6 committee's criminal referrals
Trump, in response to the criminal referrals, continued his criticism that the Jan. 6 committee is partisan and politically-motived.
"These folks don't get it that when they come after me, the people who love freedom rally around me," Trump wrote in a Truth Social statement on Monday. "It strengthens me. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger."
Trump also repeated his familiar claim that he had "pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on Jan 6" -- an assertion the committee contradicted in the executive summary of its final report.
"The select committee found no evidence of this," the panel said in the summary. "In fact, President Trump's own acting secretary of defense Christopher Miller directly refuted this when he testified under oath."
Trump's campaign also released a statement, calling the committee's action "a mockery of our democracy."
“The January 6th Unselect Committee held show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history," the campaign's statement read.
Dec 19, 2:51 PM
Committee releases 160-page executive summary of final report
The House Jan. 6 committee, after its final public meeting on Monday, released a sweeping executive summary to explain its findings. In it, members point to Trump as the main instigator behind the Capitol attack.
"That evidence has led to an overriding and straight-forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him," the summary said.
Highlights from the executive summary can be read here.
The committee is expected to release a broader, more comprehensive final report later this week.
Dec 19, 2:42 PM
Who is John Eastman?
Attorney John Eastman was named with Trump as among those the committee is recommending for criminal charges to the Justice Department. Members described how Trump turned to Eastman as other allies asked for him to accept the election loss.
Eastman, the committee said, drafted a six-step plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject legitimate electors during the certification of the election on Jan. 6, even though Eastman admitted in advance that Pence could not lawfully do so.
Former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann, in a taped deposition with committee members, said he told Eastman his plan was "completely crazy," would "cause riots in the streets" and that he was "out of [his] effin' mind."
But even after the Capitol attack, Eastman pursued the plot, the committee said. Herschmann said he told Eastman: "'Now I'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're getting in your life: Get a great effing criminal defense lawyer. You're going to need it.'"
Soon after, Eastman emailed Rudy Giuliani to say, "I've decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works," according to evidence obtained by the committee.
Dec 19, 2:39 PM
Panel refers four Republican lawmakers to the House Committee on Ethics
The Jan. 6 committee is also making referrals for four Republican lawmakers to the House Committee on Ethics for their failure to comply with subpoenas.
The members being referred, according to the executive summary of the committee's report, are House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Reps. Jim Jordan, Scott Perry and Andy Biggs.
"We asked multiple members of Congress to speak with us about issues critical to our understanding of this attack on the 2020 election, and our system of constitutional democracy. None agreed to provide that essential information," Rep. Jamie Raskin said. "As a result, we took the significant step of issuing them subpoenas based on the volume of information particular members possessed about one or more parts of President Trump's plans to overturn the election. None of the subpoenaed members complied."
Dec 19, 2:29 PM
Committee votes to approve referrals, final report
After Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., outlined the criminal referrals it was making for Trump, John Eastman and others, the committee voted unanimously to transmit their referrals to the Justice Department.
"We understand the gravity of each and every referral we are making today, just as we understand the magnitude of the crime against democracy that we describe in our report -- but we have gone where the facts in the law lead us, and inescapably, they lead us here," Raskin said.
It is now up to the Justice Department to pursue the charges or even acknowledge them, but it's not obligated to do.
"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 at the start of the meeting.
Dec 19, 2:19 PM
Committee approves four criminal referrals for Trump
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.
Dec 19, 2:36 PM
Raskin details referrals against Trump, Eastman
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.
Dec 19, 2:07 PM
Trump’s pressure on Pence threatened VP’s life, Aguilar says
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."
Dec 19, 2:04 PM
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.
Dec 19, 1:54 PM
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."
