Jan 6 committee refers Donald Trump for criminal prosecution on four …

House panel: Trump criminal referral a 'roadmap to justice'

The House panel investigating Donald Trumps efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat has referred the former president for four criminal charges, including engaging in an insurrection, in what the committees chair says is a roadmap to justice.

The stunning, unprecedented referral of an ex-president came at the final meeting of the bipartisan panel on Monday afternoon. The nine members also voted unanimously to approve the final report of the 18-month investigation, which will be released on Wednesday.

The committee alleged violations of four criminal statutes by Trump, in both the run-up to the January riot and during his efforts to remain in power after his defeat by Joe Biden.

The panel is also referring four Republican members of Congress to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with subpoenas.

The Trump referrals are for influencing or impeding a an official proceeding of the US government, conspiring to defraud the US, unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government, and assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States.

Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, the panel chair, said the referrals will be transmitted to the justice department in very short order.

They are largely symbolic, as attorney general Merrick Garland will make his own decision on charges at the conclusion of the justice departments own investigations, headed by special prosecutor Jack Smith.

But, speaking to CNN after the session, Thompson said:

Im convinced the justice department will charge former president Trump. No-one, including the former president, is above the law.

In his opening remarks to the meeting, Thompson said: We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a roadmap to justice.

John Eastman, Trumps attorney, whom the panel said had helped Trump in his conspiracy to stay in power, was also referred. Unnamed others are also likely to face referrals, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and former department of justice official Jeffrey Clark.

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin announced the referrals. Ours is not a system where foot soldiers go to jail, and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass, Raskin said:

The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against the constitutional order.

Updated at 16.51EST

Key events

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Were wrapping up our live US politics coverage for the day, after a historic announcement from the January 6 committee that they had voted unanimously to refer former president Donald Trump to the justice department for criminal prosecution on four counts. Heres a recap of todays key events:

The four counts of the Trump referrals are for influencing or impeding an official proceeding of the US government, conspiring to defraud the US, unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government, and assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States.

The referrals are largely symbolic, as attorney general Merrick Garland will make his own decision on charges at the conclusion of the justice departments own investigations, headed by special prosecutor Jack Smith.

The panel is also referring four Republican members of Congress to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with subpoenas, including Kevin McCarthy, the GOP leader who is expected to run for speaker of the House when the party takes control of the chamber next year.

The January 6 committees full report is expected to be released on Wednesday.

In other high-stakes news, the supreme courts chief justice, John Roberts, has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from later this week ending a pandemic-era policy of rapidly expelling migrants caught at the US-Mexico border, at the request of Republican officials in 19 states.

Updated at 18.23EST

Whats next for the Jan 6 committee?

Though the committee has released an executive summary of its findings, a full report is expected to be made public on Wednesday.

Broader documentation of the committees interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses are also expected to be made public in the coming days, CNN reported, satisfying the demands from Trumps allies to see not just the committees clips from interviews with Trumps confidantes, but the full context.

The committee itself will dissolve, with Republicans holding a majority in Congress next year. Four members of the committee will not be returning to Congress, having lost or chosen not to run for reelection in the midterms. Despite its historic work, the committee is unlikely to serve as a political steppingstone for many of its members, the New York Times wrote.

Its unclear how the committees recommendation that Trump should face criminal justice will affect the justice departments ongoing criminal investigations into Trumps conduct on 6 January and his handling of top secret documents. Now that Trump is officially running for reelection, the justice department has appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, a career prosecutor and political independent, to oversee those investigations.

Updated at 18.13EST

Breaking: supreme courts chief justice temporarily blocks end to pandemic-era border restrictions

At the request of Republican officials in 19 states, the supreme courts chief justice, John Roberts, has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from later this week ending a pandemic-era policy of rapidly expelling migrants caught at the US-Mexico border, Reuters reports.

The Republican officials led by the attorneys general in Arizona and Louisiana on Monday asked the supreme court to act after a federal appeals court on Friday declined to put on hold a judges ruling last month that invalidated an emergency order known as Title 42. The policy is set to expire Wednesday.

The Biden administration had faced sharp criticism for extending Title 42, a Trump-era immigration policy that advocates said had made the legal process of seeking asylum in the US much more dangerous, unstable and unsanitary.

Since the policy was put in place in March 2020, more than 2.4 million migrants have been expelled from the US and prevented from exercising their legal right under US and international law to seek asylum. The policy was justified as a way of preventing the spread of Covid-19.

In November, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to lift the Trump-era asylum restriction, calling the ban arbitrary and capricious. The judge gave the justice department five weeks to implement the change, with great reluctance, setting the deadline for this Wednesday, 21 December.

Updated at 18.01EST

More than 9,000 threats against US lawmakers in past year, Capitol police chief says

As the January 6 committee has referred Donald Trump to the justice department for criminal prosecution on four counts, including assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States, in another part of the Capitol, the chief of the Capitol police is testifying about the rising number of threats against members of Congress.

Some lawmakers see increased privacy protections as one response:

Updated at 17.12EST

Unanswered questions, unsolved crimes: the 6 January pipe bombs

After more than a year of work, there are still key questions about 6 January that remain unanswered, including: who was responsible for placing the viable pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican national committee headquarters that were discovered that day?

Asked about that issue, congressman Jamie Raskin said I dont believe there have been any updates since we first looked into it. Those are unsolved crimes, CNN reported.

Updated at 16.55EST

January 6 committee Democrat who lost her House seat: Its all been worth it.

This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live politics coverage from Los Angeles.

Democratic congresswoman Elaine Luria of Virginia, a member of the January 6 House committee, lost her reelection bid to her Republican opponent.

As Luria recapped the January 6 committees recommendations this afternoon, CNNs Jake Tapper asked her if she thought the committees work had played a role in her loss.

Luria said she believed it had, but that she felt preventing another event like January 6 was more important than her individual political career.

Its all been worth it, she said.

Luria also emphasized that the 2022 midterms more broadly had not produced a wave of victories for the most pro-Trump candidates, as the former president had hoped. The most emphatic election deniers they did not win, she said.

Luria and other Democrats told the New York Times they believed the January 6 committees work had more importance for midterm voters than polls had indicated.

Updated at 16.40EST

Four law enforcement officers who came under attack during the January 6 Capitol riot have just been on CNN, sharing their thoughts about the criminal referrals for Donald Trump handed down this afternoon by the January 6 House committee.

Daniel Hodges, DC Metropolitan Police:

Its entirely appropriate. I dont think anything is really surprising about the charges. The chatter was whether it would be meaningful at all for the committee to make these referrals and I think it is, even if its just symbolic.

Symbols have meanings, symbols of power, and, you know, future generations [will] look back and say that this branch of Congress, this branch of government, did the best they could to make accountability happen.

Michael Fanone, DC Metropolitan police:

I think it was appropriate having sat through each and every one of the committees hearings. This was the inevitable outcome. Again, you know, it is symbolic and its up to the Department of Justice, ultimately, to seek criminal accountability for those responsible for the January 6 insurrection.

Aquilino Gonell, US Capitol Police:

Its been very meaningful to have that coming from Congress, given the amount of evidence that they uncovered, and its appropriate.

Harry Dunn, US Capitol Police:

Im glad that they did it. But respectfully to the January 6 committee, its been two years. We knew what they announced today on January 7, 2021.

I really appreciate all the work that theyve done and theyre continuing to do, and the justice department is doing. But I dont even want to get into the what ifs if they dont [charge Trump].

Updated at 16.05EST

Heres our full story about this afternoons House January 6 committee meeting that approved criminal referrals for Donald Trump. Chris Stein reports:

The January 6 committee has referred Donald Trump to the justice department to face criminal charges, accusing the former president of fomenting an insurrection and conspiring against the government over his attempt to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election, and the bloody attack on the US Capitol.

The committees referrals approved by its members Monday are the first time in American history that Congress has recommended charges against a former president. It comes after more than a year of investigation by the bipartisan House of Representatives panel tasked with understanding Trumps plot to stop Joe Biden from taking office.

The committee believes that more than sufficient evidence exists for a criminal referral of former President Trump for assisting or aiding and comforting those at the Capitol who engaged in a violent attack on the United States, congressman Jamie Raskin said as the committee held its final public meeting.

The committee has developed significant evidence that President Trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transition of power under our Constitution. The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against the constitutional order.

The committee accused Trump of breaching four federal criminal statutes, including those relating to obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, assisting an insurrection and conspiring to defraud the United States. It also believed Trump committed seditious conspiracy the same charge for which two members of the rightwing Oath Keepers militia group were found guilty of by a jury last month.

The lawmakers also referred four Republican House representatives to the chambers ethics committee. The group includes Kevin McCarthy, the GOP leader who is expected to run for speaker of the House when the party takes control of the chamber next year.

Read the full story:

Donald Trump could face up to 25 years in prison if he is convicted of the four criminal charges for which a House panel this afternoon referred him to the justice department.

The US code on assisting with or engaging in an insurrection allows for a sentence of up to 10 years, and disqualification from holding or running for any office under the United States for anyone convicted.

The former president announced his third run for the White House as a Republican last month.

As for the other three charges Trump could face, all carry prison terms of up to five years, conspiracy to defraud the US, unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government; and influencing or impeding a an official proceeding of the US government.

There is, of course, uncertainty over whether the justice department will charge Trump with these crimes, far more whether he would be convicted. But this is the first time we know of the potential penalties Trump faces for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Updated at 15.33EST

Well see the full report (hopefully) on Wednesday, but heres the executive summary of the January 6 House panels findings, published this afternoon at the conclusion of its final meeting.

It gives an outline of the 18-month investigation and key findings that resulted in a criminal referral for Donald Trump on four federal charges today, including assisting in or engaging in an insurrection.

You can read the panels summary here.

The House panel investigating Donald Trumps efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat has referred the former president for four criminal charges, including engaging in an insurrection, in what the committees chair says is a roadmap to justice.

The stunning, unprecedented referral of an ex-president came at the final meeting of the bipartisan panel on Monday afternoon. The nine members also voted unanimously to approve the final report of the 18-month investigation, which will be released on Wednesday.

The committee alleged violations of four criminal statutes by Trump, in both the run-up to the January riot and during his efforts to remain in power after his defeat by Joe Biden.

The panel is also referring four Republican members of Congress to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with subpoenas.

The Trump referrals are for influencing or impeding a an official proceeding of the US government, conspiring to defraud the US, unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government, and assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States.

Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, the panel chair, said the referrals will be transmitted to the justice department in very short order.

They are largely symbolic, as attorney general Merrick Garland will make his own decision on charges at the conclusion of the justice departments own investigations, headed by special prosecutor Jack Smith.

But, speaking to CNN after the session, Thompson said:

Im convinced the justice department will charge former president Trump. No-one, including the former president, is above the law.

In his opening remarks to the meeting, Thompson said: We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a roadmap to justice.

John Eastman, Trumps attorney, whom the panel said had helped Trump in his conspiracy to stay in power, was also referred. Unnamed others are also likely to face referrals, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and former department of justice official Jeffrey Clark.

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin announced the referrals. Ours is not a system where foot soldiers go to jail, and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass, Raskin said:

The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against the constitutional order.

Updated at 16.51EST

Here are some more tweets from the House January 6 committee session today:

The four Republican congressmen who have been referred to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with the January 6 panels subpoenas are Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader and would-be speaker from California; Jim Jordan of Ohio; Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona.

Updated at 14.42EST

See the article here:

Jan 6 committee refers Donald Trump for criminal prosecution on four ...